


Beyond the Abyss

by PinkAngel



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-28
Updated: 2014-07-17
Packaged: 2018-02-05 17:39:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 39
Words: 50,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1826608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PinkAngel/pseuds/PinkAngel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for NaNo 2013. An away mission takes a turn for the worse, leaving the Captain and five crewmembers disconnected from Voyager. Set after 'Repression' with a dash of J/C.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for NaNoWrimo 2013, but only recently started to finish up editing it. Chapters will be posted as they're edited.

_"Captain_ _to the_ _bridge."  
_  
Janeway closed her eyes for a brief second when Tuvok's stoic voiced filled her ready room. She was under no delusion of what his summons meant. She had in fact been waiting the last several hours for this call to come. What had only a few hours ago seemed to take forever now seemed to have flown by at warp speeds that would give _Voyager_ a run for it's money. With a glance at the stars outside she noticed they were going by at a much slower pace now. Tom had obviously slowed recently as they awaited her arrival and therefore further orders as well. Her entire frame seemed tense as she stood and, in a manner as stoic as Tuvok's voice, made her way out of her ready room.  
  
The bridge was silent upon her arrival. The only sounds that could be heard was the usual dull buzz of the engines vibrating through the deck paneling and the soft beeping of the consoles as the crew worked away. The lack of joking, banter, or daily conversations made the ship seem so much more silent though and the anticipation could be felt in the recycled air as if they were all waiting with baited breath for a pin to drop and break the silence.  
  
It was no secret that she was the pin in this instance. They were waiting, each and every one of them, for her to give the order that everyone already knew she would give. Her decision, like that pin dropping, was no secret. In the back of her mind she reminded herself that it wasn't just her decision. She had discussed it thoroughly with the senior staff and they all agreed it was the only viable option.  
  
After all, how bad could it really be? She almost didn't want to bother asking that question even to herself. "Is this it?" she asked instead, more or less unnecessarily considering.  
  
Chakotay stood from his chair as she approached and for a brief moment their eyes met before they both looked away. She continued past him and rooted herself in the middle of the bridge, her arms crossing automatically over her chest as she gazed at the viewscreen and the mass of swirling colors dancing amongst the darkness of space like a gentle morning fog. It reminded her distinctly of the Kolyan Kolyar in Devore space.  
  
She felt more than saw Chakotay step up behind her. "Yes, Captain." His tone was calm, but she could feel, or perhaps sense, the tension in his muscles as his arm grazed her shoulder when he took another step forward to stand at her side.  
  
The simple and beautiful view before them was deceivingly foreboding. Beyond that aurora like phenomenon was an expanse of danger, like a welcome mat that Death itself had set out as a way to lure in some company in the inky dark abode. The scientific curiosity in her was enthralled by the unknown laying before them. The responsible captain, the part of her that had gradually overshadowed her curiosity over these last few years, made her apprehension and wariness increase tenfold.  
  
She was responsible for these people and she had failed them before. She couldn't allow that to happen again. As she studied the makeshift border just a few more light years before them she remembered the conversation with the Ofttar trader two weeks ago....  
  
 _"I feel I should warn you though, Captain Janeway....," the trade specialist began as Tuvok oversaw the supplies being beamed aboard. He was a high-spirited fellow, albeit a bit sly with a tendency of stinginess. Overall she had discovered his greatest thrill in life seemed to come from wheeling and dealing. She'd seen that spark of challenge in the eyes of others before. She herself had recognized it in herself a time or two.  
_  
 _"About what, exactly, Mr. Grefftus?"  
_  
 _The humanoid, who was no taller than her, leaned in closer and_ _lowered his voice as if to impart a secret. His breath was a bit putrid, no doubt due to the moldy green drink he was constantly sipping, and it took all her well honed will power not to pull away.  
_  
 _"The Mawr_ _Anga."  
_  
 _Her forehead creased as she frowned._ _The universal translator didn't seem to be able to translate the phrase. "The Mawr Anga?"  
_  
 _Grefftus winced and looked around as if searching for any of the passersby of the station who might have heard. "Shhh," he said, and for the first time she was presented with physical proof that he was capable of frowning. "Careful, Captain. The Mawr Anga is something that inspires great fear in many people of this sector. It's not something we speak much about. There are very few visitors from outside the sector that come by here, you see...so most people are already familiar with it. You and your crew though...you're not from around here, so I feel you should be warned about what lay ahead if you continue."  
_  
 _"You haven't yet told me what it is, Grefftus."  
_  
 _"It's danger, Captain. Danger with no way out. Many ships go in, but few return. The expanse is littered with storms, phenomena like you've never seen, and some say there are even monsters living amongst the stars themselves."  
_  
 _She arched an eyebrow, not quite believing him. So far it all sounded like misplaced fear set around some sort of legend. A rumor with no basis of fact. Compared to what the_ _crew had just recently faced she doubted it would be that much of an obstacle.  
_  
 _"I've seen it, Captain," Grefftus continued after apparently picking up on her disbelief. "Not all the way inside, exactly, but I've seen first hand a ship who did manage to escape. It was barely habitable and limping along like a wounded Reanic beast."  
_  
 _Janeway had to admit that many rumors were based on some grain of truth somewhere along the line. Besides which, Grefftus may be crafty, but he had yet to outright lie to her. Even if there wasn't a 'monster' the prospect of spatial storms could be an adherence to Voyager who had so recently emerged from yet another fiasco.  
_  
 _"How far does this expanse extend?"  
_  
 _Grefftus shook his head, his bushy gray hair flying around like weeds in a hurricane. "Too far. To go around it you would have to travel two of your years out of your way. To go through it you might make it in a month. Theoretically."  
_  
 _"Theoretically?"  
_  
 _"I told you, Captain, not many have escaped. There's very little known about the area really."  
_  
 _She nodded even as her hope continued to wither. Which it seemed to_ be _doing more and more frequently lately. How many expanses, voids, and bleak undertakings could the crew withstand? They were already traversing a thin line as it was.  
_  
 _"If you'd prefer to stay I can set you up with a lovely fertile plot of land on Sanik IV that's..."  
_  
That had been the last time she'd talked with Grefftus, but his warning still rang clearly in her ears as if he were standing right beside her. "Sensor readings?" she requested, walking to the helm and laying a hand on Tom's shoulder out of habit.  
  
The pilot glanced up at her and for the millisecond that their eyes met she saw the same concerned look in his eyes that she herself was unwilling to show. There was also a hint of knowing behind that look. He like the rest of the crew was already well aware of what order she'd soon give. She had the distinct impression he had known what she'd chose to do before she herself had been sure.  
  
"Grefftus was right, Captain," Harry Kim reported from behind her. "The sensors are picking up a magnetic eddy and plasma storms." He paused for a moment as he reviewed the data. "The readings are similar to those of the Badlands."  
  
"Any signs of other ships?" _Or monsters_ , she added silently.  
  
"No, ma’am, but…"  
  
"But?"  
  
"There’s interference. The sensors can't seem to get clear readings past two light years."  
  
And so it begins.  
  
It was either face the unknown or spend two extra years that they couldn't afford to sacrifice. The choice was simple and yet held a complexity that she wasn't about to dwell on at that very moment.  
  
"Alright, Mr. Paris," she said, giving the pilot’s shoulder a squeeze before turning and heading back to the center of the bridge. Once again she met Chakotay’s eyes for a brief second before he averted his watchful gaze. "Take us in."  
  
"Yes, ma'am," Tom replied as his fingers began dancing across the console.  
  
It might not be so bad, Kathryn told herself, they might make it through without a hitch. How many expanses could they traverse that wanted them dead? At some point the universe had to give them a break.  
  
"How long until we reach the border?"  
  
Ever prompt Tuvok answered first. "Approximately two hours and five minutes, Captain."  
  
"I'll be in my ready room." Turning she retraced the path back to her ready room. "Notify me when we get there."


	2. Chapter 2

 

It was late when Kathryn stepped into the messhall. Most of the crew had already had dinner and where turning in for the night. The three or four crewmembers scattered around were just getting ready to check in for gamma shift. Their already hushed talking seemed to grow even softer when she entered.

For a moment as she continued undeterred to the galley she felt their eyes on her. She knew from experience over the last couple weeks that if she looked they would just go back to whatever they were doing as if they hadn't been watching her. Just like Chakotay had been doing lately as well.

She wished she knew how much longer this was going to last. If she did she might just take an extended leave until it blew over. No one could deny she could use a vacation anyways. She nearly scoffed at the thought. There was no way she would be taking a vacation anytime soon.

As she approached the counter the sound of Neelix working became more pronounced until she wondered if he was using the pots and pans as drums just to test how loud he could really be. She didn't see him at first which, considering the kitchen wasn't that big and therefore didn't have that many places for him to hide, slightly surprised her.

"Neelix?"

There was a dull thud and then the talaxian's head popped up over the stove. She had obviously startled him. "Captain," he greeted while rubbing the top of his head where she assumed he had bumped it. A grin spread over his face as he moved around the corner and came to stand facing her at the counter. "I'm so glad you're here!"

"Oh?" She couldn't think of a reason why he'd be so happy to see her. Unless his noise making had something to do with a new recipe and he wanted her to try it. In which case she would have to start thinking of an excuse to make a prompt departure.

"I was worried you wouldn't come by," he answered, though it still didn't really help her understand, as he began putting a plate of food together for her. "You didn't come for lunch and the Commander said you were in your ready room most of the day and then you missed the dinner rush and so I...," he trailed off for a moment, his face darkening a fraction in a fashion reminiscent of a blush as if he realized he were rambling. "Well, I wasn't sure if you'd be by or not."

A small smile crept it's way onto her face as she listened to his reasoning. "You were worried about me, Neelix?"

"Well, yes, I guess I was," he admitted, returning her smile. He walked around the counter, her tray of food in one hand, and gently put his free hand on her shoulder as he lead her to a table. "You didn't stop by yesterday for your morning coffee either. Between that and not showing up for your usual mealtimes....," he trailed off again, but she knew what he was implying. He had been worried that she hadn't been eating.

It wasn't the food she was avoiding though. It was the eyes. Very rarely, if ever, had the scrutiny of her crew bothered her. This scrutiny was different though. They weren't watching to see her motivations, or wondering if she'd lost her mind, or even sizing her up as if they were unsure whether to trust her or not. Instead it was an awkward gaze that always seemed to follow her. She'd even caught a sympathetic gaze ones or twice these last few weeks.

Neelix pulled out a chair for her and she sat down. In doing so her eyes glanced over at the two crewmen, both former maquis she noted, who hadn't looked away since she'd come in. When they caught her looking they averted their stares and went back to their hushed conversation though. Just like usual.

The smile slipped from her face and she turned her full attention to the suddenly unappetizing tray of food in front of her. As Neelix slid into the chair opposite her she picked up a fork and pushed a few strands of pasta around on her plate.

"Have you noticed anything a bit off with the crew lately?"

Neelix's eyes darted to the two crewman on her right and then to the group of three personnel somewhere behind her. He gave her a gentle and sympathetic smile before answering. "They're just not sure how to act yet, Captain. It's not everyday you take your fellow crewmembers prisoner and try to take over the ship."

"Try?" She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "They _did_ take over the ship."

"I suppose they did," Neelix murmured, subconsciously rubbing his lower left arm where crewman Dalby had left bruises with his iron tight grip a couple weeks previously. He snapped out of his thoughtful trance a second later. "They feel bad about it, Captain. They hurt, both emotionally and physically, their friends against their own will."

"I know they feel bad about it, but there's no need for them to. It wasn't their fault, "she added softly, looking back down at her plate with a thoughtful look of her own. If it was anyone's fault it was her own. They couldn't be blamed for what they had no control over.

"They also....," Neelix paused as if trying to decide whether or not to continue. "They aren't sure how you feel about them now. They feel they betrayed you and so some of them...some of them think you might not trust them anymore."

"Of course I trust them. It wasn't their fault and I couldn't possibly hold them responsible."

"I know that, Captain, but some of them just need more time to realize that too. It's not just you they're uncomfortable around either I promise. It's gotten better, but that first week or so after it happened there was a mass amount of unease between the former maquis and the original Starfleet. It's gotten better though and I think eventually the rest of the wounds will heal as well."

She hoped he was right. Otherwise she might just take that vacation after all.

 

* * *

 

 

The next morning Kathryn made a point to stop by the messhall for her usual cup of coffee, much to the pleasure of Neelix who instantly poured her a steaming hot cup of fresh coffee. It was a few hours later, after the daily Security report from Tuvok, that she made her way down to Astrometrics.

Seven was, as Kathryn expected, working diligently at the main console. These last few days she hadn't seen as much of the younger woman as she usually would. Their weekly velocity game had been put on hold thanks to the possible impending threat of the Mawr Anga. Even without everyone's preoccupation she wasn't sure if she would have had enough energy to make the game even remotely interesting anyways. Much of both of their time had been spent getting the ship ready as a precaution. B'Elanna had perhaps been the most busy of them all though.

"Seven," she greeted upon walking up to the console. "What have you got for me?"

The former borg turned briefly to face her and for a moment Seven refrained from answering as she looked the Captain over. With an arched eyebrow she returned to studying the data readings though after a few mere seconds. "A plasma storm roughly two light years from our present location. I have notified Lieutenant Paris so he may avoid it."

Kathryn nodded in acknowledgment. "Anything else?"

"Yes. I am attempting to plot all the anomalies, but they are proving to be unpredictable. For instance....Sensors picked up a region of relative calmness ten light years away," she began and, with a few taps of the console, she pulled up a map on the large viewscreen.

It was obviously a rough estimate of the region seeing as how the sensors readings were still unclear, but even with what they knew for sure the area looked like a picture right out of the dictionary for the term 'navigational hazard'. Already there were three plasma storms within a fifteen light year radius, a meteor field that might just be the largest she'd ever encountered, and what appeared to be polaric radiation readings at the very edge of the radius.

Seven pointed to a small area just outside the meteor field and then magnified that particular spot of the map. "As you can see there is no obvious phenomena that would pose a disturbance. I was therefore going to recommend using it as a flight path, however half an hour ago the readings abruptly changed without warning." Seven tapped the controls once more and the image changed.

Kathryn leaned closer as she studied the small swirling dot. "Is that what I think it is...."

"It is a particle fountain," Seven answered as she too studied the representation. "There is very little known about such occurrences, even amongst the borg."

"They're exceedingly dangerous," she pointed out. "And there was no previous signs that it could pop up?"

"None that I was able to detect."

Kathryn nodded thoughtful. "Good work catching it, Seven. If anything else comes up contact me immediately."

"Yes, Captain. I shall keep you updated." The former borg's piercing eyes studied her once more before she could leave. "Captain, it might be prudent for you rest. You appear to be quite tired."

' _That's probably because I've barely slept in days_ ,' Kathryn thought dryly. "I'm fine, Seven, but thank you for the concern," she answered out loud with a meager smile. She put a hand on the younger woman's shoulder and gave it a light squeeze in passing.

As she moved towards the exit the doors slid opened, allowing Tal Celes to enter. She noticed the young bajoran's tired eyes instantly. Celes however only noticed her presence after a delay and then smiled, albeit tiredly, as they passed each other and Kathryn made a mental note to speak with Seven about how much she was pushing the girl.


	3. Chapter 3

_Silence. It reminded her of the starless void. Just as easily as the memory came the desolate feelings followed. How was that possible after so long? Weren't wounds supposed to heal and scars fade? What made hers so special that they lingered this long._

_"How much longer can we do this?" The question was met by more silence. A meditation candle flickered in the viewport of Tuvok's quarters even though the tactical officer was no where to be seen. Why were they in his quarters anyways? It didn't quite make sense._

_"We’ll do it for as long as you make us."_

_The rough voice was laced with a long simmering hatred that surprised her. Frowning she turned to look at the only other person in the living area. Chakotay was watching her, his eyes haunted, as he bore holes into her skull. "Excuse me?"_

_"You heard me, Captain," he answered, practically spitting out her title. "We're still in this quadrant because of you. You and your Starfleet ideals and precious morals that make you so much better than the rest of us."_

_She'd never seen Chakotay like this before. He was being deliberately spiteful. "Chakotay, I've only done what I've had to do. You know that."_

_"Did you have to nearly scare Lessing to death? Was there someone forcing you at phaser point to destroy the array? Did you really think Kashyk was such a good guy that he deserved your infatuation?"_

_With each word his voice dripped with accusation and sarcasm. By the end he was suddenly looming over her. She stood steady and glared up at him, all the time wondering when he'd grown so tall and so....hurtful._

_"I did what needed to be done. I won't change it. I...can't change it," she added slightly more softly._

_Chakotay scoffed and looked at her in disgust. "I'm beginning to wonder if you don't just like causing us pain." Almost as suddenly as he turned on her his face broke into a dark grin. His dimples weren't nearly as alluring anymore. "I think it's time you stepped down, Kathryn. It's time for new leadership on this ship."_

_No. Not again._

_Her eyes widened and she tensed to the point of muscle strain. Before she could deliver a rebuke the door slid opened though and in stormed a swarm of crewmembers dressed in maquis garb. They surrounded her, their faces the picture of venom. As they flanked her, grabbing her arms and pulling her away, Tuvok's face came into view._

_"Perhaps you should simply go with them, Captain. It might prove to hurt less."_

_The sound of Chakotay's laughter was drowned out by the racing of her own heart as it pounded in her ears._

_Within a heartbeat the brig loomed closer. And closer. And closer until...._

" _Bridge to Captain Janeway_."

Kathryn shot up in bed, her heart pounding fiercely in her chest, with a light sheen of sweat along her hairline. She was in her quarters, laying in her bed, and she was alone. There was no Chakotay, no Tuvok, no mutiny. Just her own darkened quarters and the stars shinning outside the viewport.

Her commbadge beeped. " _Bridge to Captain Janeway_."

She reached for the device as she rubbed the last of the sleep from her eyes. "Janeway here. What's wrong?"

Before Tuvok could reply a vibration coursed through the ship, causing it to shake violently for a moment. She was definitely awake now. "Never mind. I'm on my way," she added while jumping out of bed and grabbing her uniform to quickly throw on.

 

* * *

 

 

Janeway marched onto the bridge, any sign of her unsettling night gone. "Report."

"It's that plasma storm we were trying to go around, Captain," Harry began and just as he did Chakotay walked out of the lift.

With a quick glance back at her First Officer, Kathryn noted his slightly disheveled uniform as if it'd been either thrown on in a second's notice or he'd been sleeping in it. He gave her a curt nod and walked around to stand by his chair.

"It's spitting energetic particles at us, Captain," Tom added without diverting his attention from his console. Judging by the wrinkle on his shoulder she guessed he too had gotten an abrupt wake up call.

"From this far away?" She walked over to Tuvok's station and looked at the sensor readings while he adjusted the shield harmonics.

"Looks like they're being carried via a particle wave," Harry answered. "I've never seen one extend this far though."

As if on cue the ship shook again. Kathryn held onto the Security console firmly to keep from being tossed to the deck. "Shields?"

"Down to fifty percent," Tuvok reported.

"Get us out of here, Tom!"

"I'm trying! But I can't even find a safe route." Tom was fully focused on his task even as the ship rocked underneath them again. "The sensors aren't helping any."

"Harry...."

"I'm trying, Captain, but the plasma storm is making it nearly impossible."

Another energetic particle wave hit the ship, this one even more forceful the last few. Kathryn watched as Chakotay stumbled from where he was looking down at the console between their chairs. He managed to keep himself upright by holding onto the railing and then carefully maneuvered into his chair, his hands grasping the armrests just as she was holding onto the console. Elsewhere around the bridge sparks were jumping out of terminals and lighting the air.

"Shields holding at forty-eight percent," Tuvok called over the chaos.

The rumbling and shaking seemed to last for a drawn out minute, at least. As it finally died down she quickly cast a look around the bridge to check for wounded. There were none that she could see, though there was plenty of wayward hair and a couple of smoking consoles.

"I got it!" Tom exclaimed and she could practically hear the grin in his voice. "We're out, Captain."

"Good work, Tom. Damages?" She asked while running a hand through her own messy hair and stepping down to the center of the bridge.

"An EPS conduit ruptured on deck three and caused a plasma fire," Chakotay reported as he reviewed the readouts on the middle console between the seats. "A security detail has contained it and an Engineering team is repairing the damage."

"There's some minor hull damage and it looks like the transporters are offline," Harry continued.

" _Engineering to the Captain_."

Janeway closed her eyes for a moment at the foreboding sound of B'Elanna's voice while a knot formed in her stomach. "Go ahead, Lieutenant."

" _We have a problem_."


	4. Chapter 4

The most optimistic thought she could currently conjure up was that no one had died. The ship was damaged, but there had fortunately been no fatalities, only a few bumps and bruises. In her book that was a positive on any day. On a day like today, in a situation they now found themselves in, it might as well be the closest thing to a victory they'd probably have for a long while.

The dilithium crystals had burned out. Without dilithium the warp core failed to operate. Without the warp core they were crawling along, basically stuck, in this expanse for the foreseeable future. Not only would that mean the probability of their reaching the Alpha Quadrant was slim, at best, it was also considerably dangerous given the unpredictable nature of the phenomena in the area.

Janeway slowly paced back and forth in-between the viewport and the briefing room table, arms crossed, and with a thoughtful expression. "Can the dilithium be recrystallized?"

B'Elanna shook her head from her seat at the table. "They're too far gone for that. If we had enough polyferranide I might be able to seal the warp coils to prevent them from burning out long enough for us to find some dilithium, but we barely have enough left to make it last two days. Three tops if we really push it."

"So we need to find either polyferranide or dilithium deposits," she summarized and pulled out her chair to sit down.

"Or preferably both," B'Elanna added. "It might be a good idea to seal the warp coils even with fresh dilithium as a precaution in case we fly into anything else." When she finished she shot Tom a pointed look.

The pilot opened his mouth to defend himself, but Janeway cut him off before he could. "Finding either could be a problem out here," she pointed out, mostly to herself.

"That may not be completely accurate."

"You have an idea, Seven?"

"Since Lieutenant Paris was able to navigate us to a relatively calm region of space I was able to perform a more conclusive scan of the region."

"And?" Tom prodded. "Don't keep us in suspense here, Seven."

"I was able to locate an uninhabited M-class planet approximately 1.46 light years from our current location. Sensors indicate it rich with various raw mineral deposits. I can not be certain at this point, but I believe there to be dilithium present."

Tom grinned, Harry blew out a long breath, and the general feeling in the room was one of relief. It wasn't much, but even the sliver of light at a fork in the dark tunnel was enough to lift some of the weight off their shoulders.

"We might just have found our answers," she said with a crooked half-smile. "Tom, get the coordinates from Seven and set a course. The safest course possible preferably. B'Elanna get those coils sealed as well as you can and then let Tom know so we can get going."

"We won't be able to go more than warp three," B'Elanna said as they all began to stand.

"If Seven's right on the distance then we should be able to make it there in about three days," Chakotay added after doing some quick mental math.

Seven arched an eyebrow. "My calculations are correct."

B'Elanna scoffed, but her eyes danced amusedly in a way that matched her husband's crooked grin. "It'll be close, but we should be able to make it. I can't guarantee what'll happen once we're there though if there's no resources like we need."

"At this point it looks like our best chance is to take the risk," Janeway replied. "We'll conserve energy as best we can though. Harry, see to it that all non-essential power usage is shut off. And Neelix....," she smiled lightly as she addressed the talaxian. "Looks like you're going to be doing a lot of cooking. The less replicators we use the better."

"Of course, Captain. I'm ready." Neelix returned her smile and nodded in acknowledgment.

"Alright than. Dismissed." She watched as they all turned to leave and began filling out of the room. Just before Chakotay reached the door she addressed him though. "Commander, would you mind staying for a moment. I'd like to talk with you about something."

It wasn't a request and he appeared to realize that considering he stopped and begrudgingly turned back around even though it was obvious he just wanted to leave.

“Chakotay,” she began, walking around the table and slowly approaching him until there was a few feet between them. “Is there something you'd like to get off your chest?”

“Not that I can think of, Captain.”

“We've barely spoken. I think whatever is going on here needs to be settled before it goes any further.”

“You want to talk, Captain? Alright. Why don't we talk about your avoidance techniques.”

Kathryn frowned. She wasn't the one doing the avoiding. “I think perhaps you should ask yourself that, Commander,” she said, reverting to calling him by his rank since he seemed so determined to do so. “I’m not the one with issues here.”

“You can't tell me you don't feel betrayed. Even a little bit. I know you do. Just like I know you think I should I have fought Teero more."

"You couldn't have fought it, Chakotay. You were being controlled."

She didn't remember much about last night’s dream anymore, but she remembered enough to know Chakotay featured prominently in it. She didn't blame Chakotay, or Tuvok for that matter, she really didn't. She couldn't help how her unconscious mind put the pieces of the experience together or what pattern it may come up with.

"But Tuvok did," he pointed out tersely. "He fought it off and you think I should have been able to as well."

"You're assuming things you know nothing about, Commander. You're starting to walk a thin line." Her voice lowered dangerously, her eyes beginning to spit fire as her irritation increased.

"It's what you feel though, isn't it?" His eyes were dark orbs with fire to match her own. In those deep brown depths she saw an equal amount of irritation and anger, but there was something else. Something....guilt? Shame? Like a piece of his spirit had broken off and was withering away.

"I think you need to reevaluate your own feelings on the subject before you start accusing me of being unreasonable," she said in a much more neutral tone.

"I never said you were unreasonable."

She arched an eyebrow. "You just implied it."

"Well than I'm sorry. I _am_ sorry, Kathryn. Whether you want to believe that or not. If I can't tell you how you feel than you can't do so with me though."

"I know you are. Or at least I thought you were," she added, watching him closely as if for the first time. She honestly wasn't sure how to see him anymore. She felt there was something different about him. She couldn't be sure if that was really true though or her own perception of it. Or maybe he was only different in how he treated her. "I think perhaps we should save this conversation for later. We're obviously not going to resolve anything as long as you're still holding onto that guilt."

Something flashed across Chakotay's expression, but it was quickly gone and he was the picture of indifference. "Whatever you want, Captain."

Without another word or backwards glance Kathryn walked around her First Officer and left the room, leaving him standing there staring out the viewport.

 

 

  
 


	5. Chapter 5

It had taken just over three days to reach the planet. B'Elanna was practically spitting fire in Engineering as she battled with the engines and tried to keep the ship flying. Meanwhile Seven and Harry had been working on sensor modifications. Kathryn had gone from one to the other helping where needed, but even now the transporters still weren't fully functional and the hull damage had yet to be touched. All in all it meant very little sleep for anyone involved.

Neelix was doing his best to keep morale high, but she was afraid he was fighting a loosing battle. She had considered bringing the topic up with Chakotay, but between the repairs and the fact that she was half-way certain he was avoiding her they hadn't seen much of each other. In fact she'd mainly only seen him in passing and exchanged only the rudimental words with him that were necessary in their ranking positions.

As Kathryn rode the turbolift up to the bridge she wondered if perhaps she should initiate another conversation and get it over with. It was only a matter of time really before one of two things happened....They would get into another argument which would explode with both of their tempers no longer in check or the second option was that they would continue to avoid each other until the situation died down, which on the surface seemed just fine, but she knew from experience that it only meant more resentment would be carefully hidden underneath and would fester away until one of them could no longer take it and would just pull away even more.

It was what she'd come to accept as being 'them'. They worked well together, but the emotional turmoil between them often lead to less than professional consequences. She hoped that if they had another talk that they could work things out enough that neither an explosive confrontation nor a festering wound carefully concealed would be necessary. That was her hope anyways. Lately she wasn't sure how much she should rely on such things.

As she stepped off the turbolift she wasn't surprised to see Chakotay already in his designated chair. With her down in engineering or various other parts of the ship these last three days he'd spent the majority of his time on the bridge supervising things from here. She knew this because Tuvok had pointed out the XO’s lack of leaving the bridge and therefore lack of rest. To which she pointed out that no one had rested so there was really nothing unusual about it.

Walking down to the center of the bridge she rubbed her neck to ease the tension in the muscles there and tried to ignore the grime she felt on her cheek that she knew really wasn't there. On the viewscreen was a medium sized planet with large masses of green and gray and the occasional blue dotting the land masses.

"Just in time, Captain," Tom said as she stood over his shoulder. "We'll be arriving in orbit in about five minutes. Give or take a nanosecond."

"Good because I don't think your wife would tolerate any longer." She was only half-joking and judging by the way Tom shifted in his seat he was well aware of that.

"I'll get us there as quickly as I possibly can without killing us."

A nanosecond later a dull vibration shot through the deck. It was nothing as strong as the ones from the plasma storm, but it wasn't natural either. Kathryn tensed and leaned over Tom's console to look at the data readings. "What was that?"

Harry was quick to give a prompt answer. "Some sort of gravitational disturbance, Captain. I'm trying to pinpoint the exact cause....," he trailed off and she moved closer to his station. "I think it might just be a naturally occurring anomaly centered around this planet. It doesn't seems to be harming us." He looked up at her before continuing. "But it could disrupt communications." Another vibration shot through the ship as they neared the planet, this one stronger than the last. "And I don't think we're going to be able to get any closer to the planet."

Kathryn very nearly threw her hands up in the air right then and there. With a sigh she turned back to the center of the bridge and slid into her chair. She imagined her aching feet were sighing in relief. "You heard him, Tom. Take us back some. There's no point putting Voyager in anymore danger."

"Aye, ma'am," Tom said despondently. "Backing away."

"What about a shuttle, Harry?"

She looked over at her First Officer when he asked the question. It was the first time in almost twenty-four hours that she'd heard his voice. "He has a point. Could a shuttle make it down?"

Harry took a moment to go over the readouts and the moment he perked up and smiled she knew the answer without him saying a word. "I think we can. Maybe not the Delta Flyer, but one of the smaller ones could probably pass right through with only minor trouble."

With a satisfied smile she stood once more. "A shuttle it is. Before we get too excited let's make sure what we need is actually down there. Seven?" she asked with a tap of her commbadge. "Any signs of dilithium?"

" _I am picking up dilithium signatures in two locations. I am sending Mr. Kim the coordinates of the location I believe to be the best choice_."

Harry frowned as the data came over his console. "This is over a three hundred kilometer radius, Seven."

" _I could not pinpoint a more exact location due to the sensor distortions. This general location has an abundance of rich mineral readings however. We therefore may be able to find other useful materials for Lieutenant Torres."_

Tuvok it seemed already had a solution. "A tricorder could be programmed to pinpoint and trace the exact location from the planet's surface."

"Alright than, let's get to work. I'll lead the away team," she stated and immediately became on the receiving end of Tuvok's arched eyebrow. Chakotay looked up sharply, his forehead creased in a frown, but instead of protesting as she expected he remained silent and looked back down at the PADD in his hands.

She pushed down the trace amount of disappointment she felt and turned to the helm. "Mr. Paris, care to accompany me?"

Tom swiveled in his chair and graced her with his patented crooked grin. "Yes, ma'am. I'll be there with bells on."

"How about we skip the bells this time and just go with the standard uniform."

Tom feigned a look of disappointment that was belied by the glint of amusement in his eyes. "Whatever you say, Captain."

With her own amused half-smile she turned and made her way to the lift. Tuvok, she noted, was watching her every move and she knew it wouldn't be long before he followed to question her decision to go down to the planet herself. He wouldn't argue for long, just long enough to make his objection known, and then he would begrudgingly relent just as he always did.

She was going down to that planet though. She needed off the ship and away from her First Officer's self-imposed guilt. Dilithium extraction was hard work, but somehow she felt she'd probably get more sleep down there than she would on _Voyager_ at the moment. She hadn't felt this confined on her own ship in a long time and she knew if it continued where it might lead. And that was a road she didn't wish to traverse again.


	6. Chapter 6

"Captain, I'm an expert at dilithium extraction. I _always_ do our extracting."

Between lack of rest, consistent meals, and over work B'Elanna was a bit agitated, to say the least. Even Tom had looked a bit petrified as he had stepped onto the shuttle after saying his farewell to the half-Klingon. Kathryn was _not_ giving in though.

"B'Elanna, the ship is still in need of repairs...."

"I'm not the only engineer on this ship, you know."

"And I'd appreciate it if you would oversee those repairs personally," she continued undeterred. The semi-request seemed to have the desired effect. After a brief hesitation the Chief Engineer deflated slightly and some of the irritation softened to a less threatening level.

"If you change your mind you know where to find me." B'Elanna relented, but Kathryn still wasn't too sure she wouldn't jump inside the shuttle at the last minute.

"Yes, I do. And you'll be the first person I call, I promise." Kathryn gave the engineer a reassuring smile and took the equipment case she'd been holding hostage out of her hand. "Now do you mind if I get on the shuttle, Lieutenant."

B'Elanna reluctantly released the case and took a step back. Janeway gave her forearm a light squeeze as she moved towards the shuttle entrance.

"Captain," B'Elanna began and paused until Janeway turned her head to look back. The half-Klingon seemed to debate her words as her eyes flickered to the entrance and to Tom who had stuck his head out and was reaching for the equipment case. "Be careful. Both of you," she added, a small smirk twisting at the corner of her lips when Tom shot her wink before he disappeared back inside.

"We will, B'Elanna. You just work on getting this ship back in working condition."

B'Elanna nodded in acknowledgement and Kathryn turned to finish ascending the ramp. Once fully inside she secured the hatch and maneuvered past all the equipment to the cockpit. Tom was just sliding into the pilot's chair when she entered. Tal Celes and crewman Brian Sofin, one of the former _Equinox_ crew, sat on a bench to the left. Jarvin and Yosa, both of whom were former Maquis, sat opposite them to the right.

Once the head count was finished and all were present and accounted for Kathryn joined Tom at the helm. "Alright, Mr. Paris, let's get out of here."

"My pleasure, Captain." A few taps of the console and the shuttle lurched up. She watched as the docking bay doors opened and Tom piloted the shuttle gracefully out of the shuttlebay.

Once clear of _Voyager_ she turned and took a seat as well, only to hear Tom sigh. "What's wrong, Tom?"

"I miss the Delta Flyer."

Kathryn rolled her eyes, fighting back a chuckle, and relaxed a bit in her seat. "Everyone else ready? If not it's a little late now," she added in an attempt to ease the tension that seemed to be prevalent towards the back of the shuttle.

Yosa diverted his stare when she looked their way while Jarvin continued to stare with an unreadable expression. Sofin kept his eyes glued to the bulkhead across from him just as they'd been when she had entered. It was Celes who answered...

"Ready as I'll ever be, Captain."

The bajoran seemed slightly nervous, similar to how she'd been during the first and only other away mission she'd been on, but her smile was genuine and her eyes bright with a tinge of excitement. The young woman's smile seemed a bit contagious not only for herself, but for Yosa as well it seemed. The engineer's tension eased a bit and a small barely noticeable smile appeared on his face.

Kathryn was now glad she'd decided to bring Tal along. At first it had only been because the girl's fatigue had mirrored her own and Kathryn thought this time away might give them a chance to talk. Besides that, she'd also noticed by way of Neelix, that Tal seemed to be having the same problem she had with the former maquis.

She knew for a fact the younger woman had a few close friends amongst the maquis members of the crew and that several of those friends had been acting similar to Chakotay. The more she'd thought about it the more certain she had been that Celes needed to come along. The fact she was helping put the other team members at ease was only a bonus.

Her choices for the away team members had all been rather political in a way and not just for efficiency. Tuvok had seemed to realize what she was doing, as did Chakotay if his accepting look had been any indication when she'd given him the list, but both Seven and B'Elanna had objected at first. B'Elanna she was sure understood her motivation, just didn't like it, while Seven....well, she wasn't sure how Seven felt about it other than that there were better choices to be had.

For her purposes these were just right though. Tom was an experienced pilot and could hopefully navigate them through the gravitational disturbance and any other hazard they may fly into. Yosa was a well versed engineer whom B'Elanna spoke highly of on several occasions. It was no coincident that he was also one of the ones who seemed to watch her every move lately. Neither Sofin nor Jarvin had ever really integrated into the crew as well as their peers. Especially Sofin though.

The former _Equinox_ crewmember had taken much longer to accept his position than his four other _Equinox_ friends. Though he was still a proficient security officer and took his duties seriously according to Tuvok. She was hoping this little outing would make him feel as though he were more involved with the crew.

Then there was Jarvin. Another former maquis. Chakotay had once been sure he'd stay behind on the 37's planet because he'd had a more difficult time adjusting and due to the fact he'd started a relationship with a fellow crewmember. He had not, as it turned out, and had remained and eventually he adapted with the others. However, after this last incident with the Teero mutiny, she'd heard through the grapevine that his long running relationship was on the rocks. She had a feeling he was feeling as insecure and guilt ridden as Chakotay.

It was for all these reasons that she'd chosen these particular personnel for the mission. They were well equipped to handle the objective at hand and it would also help them, and in effect the rest of the crew, to move on from their recent bump in the road. If all went well than this mission could very well be a turning point for _Voyager_. It may be far fetched, perhaps even 'inefficient‘, but it was worth a shot.

The trip, however well intended, may have started out decently enough, but it wasn't destined to last though.

With the first ripple of vibrations under her feet she wasn't too concerned. They were after all flying through a gravitational distortion. When the equipment in the back of the shuttle started clattering however and when Tom's brow creased in deep concentration she knew something was wrong. Every gut instinct she had told her this wasn't right and every muscle in her frame seemed to tense in anticipation.

"Tom.....,"

"Give me a sec, Captain. I think I can....." The pilot cursed under his breath while he practically wrestled with the shuttle controls in a battle of sheer will. Every second the shaking grew progressively worse and through the forward window the planet could be seen growing closer and closer at an alarming speed.

There was no stopping their spiraling descent. Tom obviously realized that even while battling for control. "Everybody buckle up!"

Kathryn had stood up after nearly being thrown from her seat and was now standing behind Tom and holding onto the back of his chair. Behind her she could hear the four other members of the team scrambling to secure themselves.

"With what?" Jarvin yelled sarcastically from the back.

If the situation wasn't so dire she might have laughed. She leaned over to look at the tactical controls instead. "Shielding is down to forty percent. I'm transferring reserve power."

"I'm not going to be able to keep it steady," Tom informed her, his concentration still utterly focused on the helm. "Thrusters are out." Another mumbled curse and the shuttle lurched violently. "I've lost helm control."

From behind them there was a muffled 'thud' followed by the sound of equipment banging against bulkheads. "450 kilometers from the surface," she said and stumbled to her seat as the shuttle continued to shake uncontrollably. "Transfer all power to the shields."

"Still only fifty percent shielding." The shuttle lurched again and it felt as if it were being picked up and thrown a few hundred feet at warp speeds. "Make that forty percent," Tom yelled over the beeping and thrashing.

Something, she wasn't sure what, struck the back of her head and for a brief moment the universe itself seemed to slow down. She watched through a blurred lens as Jarvin was tossed from his seat, landing heavily on Tal who'd already fallen to the deck, and as Yosa tried to give them a hand up only to be smacked with a loose conduit in the shoulder. Sparks jumped through the air, lighting up her blurry haze, and a pain filled grunt broke through the buzzing silence and brought her sluggish gaze to Tom who was shielding his face from his exploding console.

She wanted to rush to them all. Her instincts told her to protect them. Her limbs seemed to have another idea. Slowly she stood and was fully intending to pull Tom away from the console, but the shuttle chose that moment to come to an abrupt halt and throw her to the deck as they collided straight into solid ground. In the back of her mind, just before she lost her grip on consciousness, she was vaguely glad they'd at least made it to the surface.

 

* * *

 

 

Chakotay barely had one foot off the turbolift and he was already demanding answers. "What do you mean they disappeared?"

It couldn't be true, what Seven had told him over the commlink, it just couldn't. Everything had been precisely planed out. The shuttle's shields had been modified to handle the gravitational hazard. It was dangerous, yes, but he hadn't truly believed anything would go wrong. In and out, that's what the plan was.

He should have known better.

"I wouldn't exactly say 'disappeared', Commander." Harry cast a look to Seven who stood beside him. He was clearly not too thrilled with how she had described the situation. "We've just lost track of them."

Seven arched an eyebrow and addressed Chakotay. "They are no longer being picked up by our sensors and we can not find any trace of the shuttle, debris or otherwise. They have therefore, by definition, disappeared."

"Disappearing implies they're no longer there, Seven. They are obviously there somewhere, we just can't find them," Harry argued back.

Before Seven had a chance to respond Chakotay held up a hand and leveled them both with a warning look. "That's enough, both of you. I don't care about definitions right now. What happened to the away team?"

"We lost track of them when they flew deeper into the gravitational distortion," Harry answered. "We got a glimpse of them again just as they were entering the planet's atmosphere, but it didn't last long enough to get a good lock on the shuttle or the away team."

"And now?"

It was Seven who answered this time. "We still have not picked up their signal again. Nor can we seem to contact them."

"I thought their commbadges had been adjusted to be able to cut through the distortion?" Chakotay was getting progressively more irritated. Whether at the crew, himself, or the universe in general he didn't know anymore. What was the point of their precautions if none of it would work anyways?

"They were," Harry assured him. "But....it's not working apparently. There could be more intense distortions closer to the planet's atmosphere that we aren't able to detect. We know for a fact that they did make it to the upper atmosphere though and we're pretty sure they made it to the ground as well."

Chakotay was not impressed, let alone reassured. "Pretty sure, Ensign? Don't you think we should be more than 'pretty sure'...."

"For the time being," Tuvok said from his station. "It would seem our best course of action is to simply wait. The away team has at least made it to the planet, of that we can be sure. Without further evidence to the contrary we can assume they are unharmed and therefore if we wait they may find a way to contact us or will simply return as scheduled. We can not take _Voyager_ in without risk of serious damage so we therefore have few other alternatives. "

He was right, Chakotay knew that. For all they knew the away team was just fine and had already found the dilithium. It was only the knot in his stomach and his own unease about it all that was putting pieces in place that weren't really part of the equation. Until they had evidence, even far fetched evidence, the best thing to do was to give the away team time. If they didn't return as scheduled....

They'd have to cross that bridge if, or when, they came to it.

He truly wished they wouldn't have to.


	7. Chapter 7

  
_Sparks._

_Endless falling_.

_Pain_.

_The crew!_

Janeway's eyes snapped open and she abruptly sat up straight. Just as quickly as she awoke nausea washed over her and she had to close her eyes again to keep from unloading her breakfast. Her head throbbed so forcibly that she couldn't remember why her head felt like a targ's chew toy. Thankfully a few seconds later something, a hypo it felt like, was pressed to her neck and the pain eased to a dull ache.

Opening her eyes was a battle of sheer will, but once open she found herself face to face with Tom Paris. Her first realization was that he didn't look good. Not in the least.

"Easy there, Captain." He smiled, albeit only half-heartedly, even through the discomfort she knew he had to be feeling given the scorch marks marring his face and neck. "You have a pretty big bump on your head. Are you nauseous?"

She nodded, which only caused another wave of pain and dizziness to flood through her. To distract herself she took a look around at their surroundings. As the stick poking her in the thigh and the mulchy ground suggested, they weren't in the shuttle any longer. They were, in fact, on the planet. Surrounded by trees and shrubbery and the occasional rock. A couple of trees had been knocked over, a couple more leaning over onto their neighbors like dominos frozen mid action, and in effect making a semi-circle of clear land.

Following the path of fallen trees she saw the shuttle. Or what was left of it. It had crashed at an unnatural angle, the front tipping down towards the ground and the very tip actually stuck in the dirt. Smoke was billowing around it, thinning out now as if it'd been at it for awhile, and through the broken frontal window she could see conduits and pieces of the bulkhead hanging down.

It didn't take more than a few seconds observation to know that the odds of getting it airborne again weren't in their favor. In fact to even get it semi-functioning they'd probably need a full engineering team and no small amount of patients.

Tom pressed another hypo to her neck and gradually the nausea died down to allow her to actually focus. "Is everyone alright?"

"Well I think it's pretty safe to say you have a concussion..."

"I wasn't asking about me."

Tom paused for a moment, studying her with a mostly unreadable expression, before answering her question. "We're all alive. A little worse for wear, but," his lips quirked into a small amused smirk. "Functional."

She gave him a once over and made a move to stand. She was stiffer than a Vulcan on talent night, that much she knew. "You don't look so good, Tom."

"Careful, Captain," the pilot insisted and helped her up when it became obvious she wasn't going to stay sitting down. "And you don't look that great either right now."

"I'm well aware of that, Mr. Paris, thank you." She'd already noticed that her uniform jacket was torn at the shoulder and there was a tear in her lower right pant leg as well and....she looked down and realized for the first time that one of her boots was missing, leaving her with a boot on one foot and a sock on the other. Glancing up she raised an eyebrow at Tom in a silent 'care to explain' way.

"Some of the bulkhead debris kind of...fell on you. Your foot was stuck under a bunch of it and when you were pulled out your foot came, but your boot stayed behind. I'm afraid it's still missing in action."

"If you want I can see if I can find your shoe for you, Captain." Tal Celes offered as she came towards them with her arms full of ration packs. She was smiling with both a look of relief and joy at seeing the Captain awake.

Kathryn smiled lightly at the young woman in return and shook her head. Fortunately the medicine Tom gave her seemed to have stopped the dizziness and nausea. "No, that's alright. Thank you though, Celes."

As Tal put her arm full of supplies down Kathryn noticed the piece of uniform wrapped around the bajoran's hand and wrist. She watched as the crewman turned to face her, smiled a bit sheepishly as if she had been about to say something but had then changed her mind, before practically scampering back to the shuttle. Once she was gone Kathryn looked over at Tom with the unasked question about Tal's apparent injury.

"A slight sprain from what I can tell without a tricorder. Nothing too serious."

That caught her attention and made her frown. "What do you mean without a tricorder?"

“The tricorders aren't working. There's something about this planet or the distortion or something that just knocked them out."

"Is there _anything_ working?"

"Not really." He held up the hypo he still held in his hand and gave it a dissatisfied look as if it were the bane of his existence. "We're even low on medication because it all got tossed around. Even the dermal regenerator isn't working and the spare medkit is missing."

Kathryn nearly asked if things could get any worse, but quickly decided not to tempt fate. "Where are the others," she asked instead.

"Sofin's over there," Tom answered, nodding to the lump under a charred blanket. At her concerned look he continued. "I'm pretty sure he'll be alright. He passed out almost as soon as we were all out of the shuttle. He was the only one who more or less stayed conscious during the whole thing, so I think it's just fatigue and draining adrenaline at this point. Yosa and Jarvin are trying to salvage whatever they can from the shuttle," he added and as if on cue the two men in question came from around the shuttle with a couple blankets and an equipment case between them while Tal followed behind with a few canisters.

Jarvin was limping slightly and Yosa looked like he was missing a patch of hair on the side of his head. They carefully placed their burdens in the same spot Tal had deposited the ration packs and then stood back a ways as if waiting to be told what to do next.

The pile of salvageable goods wasn't all that big. In fact it was a half-decent cause for concern. There were ration packs, so at least they wouldn't starve right away, a couple canisters of what she assumed was extra water, and a few blankets that looked like they'd gone ten rounds with a bat'leth. The equipment case she recognized as the one she'd taken from B'Elanna just a few hours previously was also present. It was for the extraction they'd come down here to do. The extraction that they probably wouldn't be doing right away. Without the rest of the mining equipment or the tricorders programmed to trace the dilithium than they probably wouldn't even find the deposit, let alone be able to extract it.

"What about the commbadges," she asked, remembering the modified frequency. "Can we get in touch with _Voyager_?"

"Either they aren't working or _Voyager_ 's ignoring us," Jarvin answered, sounding less than thrilled and all together annoyed. There was a hint of concern, maybe even fear, lacing his tone as well though.

She couldn't blame him. She herself was more than a little concerned at this point. The difference was that she was the captain. She didn't have the benefit of showing any doubt or overly concerned feelings.

"If _Voyager_ hasn't noticed something's wrong yet than they will when we don't check in," she assured them. "For now let's get everything situated and make the best of this. Maybe we can get the commbadges working. Celes and Jarvin, you two start sorting the ration packs. It's going to be getting dark soon, so Mr. Paris, you and I will get some wood for a fire and do a quick scout of the area while we're at it. Yosa...," She looked him over briefly, taking in how tired he really did look, and then took her commbadge off. "You look like you're about to fall over and join Sofin. Sit down and see what you can do with this," she instructed, tossing him her soot covered commbadge.

There was a chorus of 'yes, ma'am' and 'aye, Captain' as they each went about their assigned work. After a moment's continued observation she lead the way into the forest, the feeling of uneasy foreboding still knotting her stomach.

 

* * *

 


	8. Chapter 8

He tried to put off worry, tried to ignore the gnawing in his gut, but hour after hour that passed Chakotay found it harder and harder to just sit still and wait. Call it a gut instinct, call it his over active imagination, call it insane and illogical for all he cared.....

But he knew something was wrong.

There was the possibility that it was his guilt ridden conscious putting circumstantial evidence in the picture and tainting the true situation. It was possible. He could admit that much. He didn't think that was it though. He may feel a deep, soul crushing, guilt eating away at him, but he didn't really believe it was causing his worry.

No. It was the Captain causing his worry. When it came to Kathryn he usually had a sixth-sense. _Usually_ , that is. Lately, the last few weeks especially, he couldn't really read her. Not like he used to be able to do. She'd progressively closed off from him the last year or so. The more he thought about it, and during the last few hours that's all he'd done, he could see how he had pulled away from her as well.

Who did it first and why he wasn't even sure anymore. It just happened. Slowly they'd grown apart while their connection, that thin invisible cord that always kept part of his soul fully belong to her, remained tightly strung between them. The more they pulled away the tighter that string was pulled. Logically speaking it should theoretically break.

Their connection wasn't logical as far as he could tell though. That invisible cord was reinforced by both of their devotion, loyalty, respect, and friendship. It was unbreakable. He was convinced of that. He was also convinced it was destined to explode if pulled tight enough though. At that point _something_ would happen, but even then that connection wouldn't be completely severed.

In cases like these that cord acted as a type of communication receiver. It yanked at his heartstrings and wrapped around his chest with a bruising force when something was wrong with the person on the other end. Perhaps he really was insane. Maybe Kathryn had finally driven him off the deep end.

Even if that was true he still knew something was wrong though. The rest of the crew was gradually feeling it as well. Or at least some of them. He couldn't be sure about Tuvok. Kathryn would have been able tell what the Vulcan was feeling even though he wasn't really feeling it according to said stubborn Vulcan.

B'Elanna was growing more agitated by the hour though, a sure sign of her concern. He didn't blame her. Her husband was down on an unknown planet and hadn't checked in for several hours. Harry was beginning to show concern as well and even Seven seemed a bit unsure as to whether or not the team was safe.

The deadline was growing closer though. If the away team didn't return within the next twenty-four hour period then they would know something was keeping them from returning. In which case it would be time to take action in their recovery. He'd spent the last two hours, between brooding about the state of his and Kathryn's relationship and contemplating his own reaction to the Teero incident, contemplating a rescue plan in case it was needed.

Another shuttle was out of the question. If something happened to the first one than there was a pretty good chance it'd happen to a second. Transporters were still on the fritz and even if they weren't they couldn't lock onto any life signs to beam them up anyways. He couldn't just leave the planet with unanswered questions about the away team either. So far the only viable option he'd come up with was landing _Voyager_ on the planet.

So if it became necessary, which he hoped it wouldn't, then he'd give the order to land _Voyager_. Kathryn might kill him later for such a risk, but at least she'd be alive to do so.

  
 


	9. Chapter 9

 

Kathryn knelt down where Sofin, Javin, Celes, and Yosa were getting ready to turn in for the night. The shuttle had been far too damaged to sit in, let alone sleep, so they'd divided the blankets up to make pallets and gathered fresh leaves to stuff under them for some semblance of padding. It'd been a long day for them all and even the meager comfort was nice. They were all so tired she doubted they'd be awake long enough to notice their lumpy bedding anyways.

“Feel any better, Sofin?” The crewman, the youngest of the male team members, was looking rather unsatisfied with his blanket which kept tangling around his feet. He'd woken while she and Tom had been gathering wood, but probably could have slept for another twenty-four hours without protest.

The crewman made a mumbling like noise as he scowled at the blanket before realizing who was asking. “Yes, ma’am,” he answered upon finally looking up.

“Good. Next time how about trying not to drag people out of a shuttle all on your own though, alright?”

“I'm hoping there won't ever be a next time, ma’am.”

“You and me both.” Turning her attention to the others she noticed the far away look Tal had as she stared up at the night sky while Yosa and Javin chatted in hushed tones while they attempted to get comfortable.

As she watched them the all too familiar feeling of isolation, failure, and fresh guilt washed over her. It was a sensation she'd felt many times over the last few years, almost anytime she stopped to think for ten consecutive minutes in fact, but it had intensified again over the last few days.

Her crew. Her responsibility. Therefore it followed that it was her fault that they were in this predicament. It was simple math really. A simple equation with complex results. 

With a mental shove she pushed those thoughts away. “Get some rest. In the morning we'll see what we can do about boosting the comm frequency. Maybe we'll even do a bit of exploring,” she added with a half-smile.

There were nods of acknowledgment, but no verbal response. Another symptom of their fatigue perhaps. Or perhaps a sign of their true disbelief in ever getting off the planet.

She watched as they settled down before standing and moving back over to the fire to take a seat opposite of the remaining team member. She'd told Tom to go to get some rest as well, but he claimed to be restless. For her it was part restlessness and part determination. She was determined to keep the away team safe. If that meant skipping sleep than so be it.

Technically speaking there shouldn't be all too much to worry about as far as predators went considering Seven had told her there were no life signs on the planet. When they'd scouted the area earlier they'd only run across a few insects and nothing much larger than that.

As the sun had begun sinking towards the distant horizon she'd heard something though. Something that didn't quite add up with the fact they were supposed to be alone. Until she was sure of what she'd heard and that it wasn't just the wind in the trees she would refrain from causing the others anymore concern than they were already experiencing.

Speaking of concern...

Tom was acting a bit overly astute. That was the second time he'd looked over his shoulder towards the woods. "Everything alright, Tom?"

He looked over at her and for a moment he simply stared back before flashing her his trademark crooked grin. "Everything's fine, Captain. Well, besides from the obvious."

She watched him silently in return, trying to discern what it was exactly that was causing him to be so uncomfortable. Other than the obvious, as he put it. Before she could determine exactly what it was there was a loud clash of thunder that seemed to summarize the foreboding she was experiencing.

And there was that misplaced sound again.

It wasn't just an insect, that much she was sure of.

"I'm going to do a quick perimeter check," she said while gazing passively at the trees. "Go ahead and turn in, Tom. I'll wake you when it's your turn to take watch."

"I got it." He stands at the same time she does, but he's closer to the phaser and reaches it first. "You can take second watch."

He didn't trust her. That's what it must be. He didn't feel secure, hence his paranoia, and he needed the control of doing the watch himself to feel better. If that's what he needed than so be it. "Alright, Lieutenant." She starts to move past him, but stops to put a hand on his shoulder. "Make sure to wake me in a few hours though. That's an order."

"Yes, ma'am."

She gives him a light nod in acknowledgment and then walks over to where the others are already sleeping. As she settles down and tries to get comfortable she's well aware of Tom's eyes on her. It was a familiar sensation, but not from a familiar source. Not once over the last few weeks had it been Tom to watch her every move. She ignored it, as she'd done with the others, and attempted to relax enough to sleep.

 

* * *

**_Tom's POV_ :**

 

No one was prepared for how the night would go. How could they be? They were stranded on a foreign planet without tricorders, sensors, very few weapons, and no real shelter other than that which they threw together themselves. They had no way of knowing what sort of creatures lurked in the darkness or which plants were poisonous.

According to _Voyager_ 's sensors there were no signs of humanoid life on the planet, but Tom was beginning to wonder if even that was reliable. Every once in awhile he could swear he heard a noise. A distinctive whisper on the wind that no animal could make.

He had no proof of what his gut instincts were telling him, only the churning sensation in his stomach and the prickling on the back of his neck. It was unscientific, illogical, and all together ridiculous. It wasn't as if they didn't have enough to worry about as it was. He should keep his mouth shut and his eyes open. That's what B'Elanna would tell him.

B'Elanna...

He wondered what she was doing. If she missed him. Was she worried about him or was she thankful for the peace and quiet? They were only ten hours or so late for the check in, so she probably wasn't too panicked quite yet. In a few hours though, when it became clear the away team wasn't going to be checking in, how would she react?

He knew one thing for sure...

When they got back to Voyager B'Elanna would probably kill him for this stunt. As if it were his fault. Than again maybe it was his fault. Maybe if he'd been faster at the controls, if he'd compensated for the turbulence more, if he...if he....

The hairs on the back of his neck suddenly stood on end again. Turning sharply he searched the zigzagging border of the trees for any sign of life, whether animal or other, but came up empty handed. Just as he had every time now. There was nothing out there. Nothing except his own overactive imagination.

"Everything alright, Tom?"

Turning back to face the campfire he was met with the steely blue eyes of the Captain. She was watching him from her place on the forest floor across the fire, her gaze both cooly guarded and warm at the same time. A contradiction wrapped in an enigma and sprinkled with mischief. That's how he'd always described that expression.

The smile he gave her was a classic Tom Paris. Just barely genuine enough to pass as acceptable without giving away too much of what he was really thinking. She'd always been able to see through it, he knew, but hopefully she wouldn't push. "Everything's fine, Captain. Well, besides from the obvious," he added, his grin growing a fraction more. She continued to watch him a moment longer, her eyes seemingly prying all his secrets forth without him saying a word, before she thankfully tore her gaze away and he was able to breath a silent sigh of relief.

There was another creaking amongst the trees, a subtle whisper barely reaching his ears, and then a clap of thunder that shook the very ground and startles him so much he nearly jumps. It seemed they were going to be having a rain storm.

Just wonderful.

It wasn't as if they had any other problems at the moment.

"I'm going to do a quick perimeter check," the Captain says, and when he looks over at her he sees her scanning the trees with a tense look about her. For a moment he wonders if maybe she hears the voices too. "Go ahead and turn in, Tom. I'll wake you when it's your turn to take the watch."

No she won't. They both know she's not going to wake him up unless she absolutely can't keep her eyes open any longer. She thinks it's part of being a captain and looking after her flock. He thinks it's masochistic. "I got it," he says, standing quickly along with her and reaching for the phaser before she gets the chance. "You can take second watch."

It's not just his own drive to make sure she doesn't kill herself that has him volunteering. This time it's for his own sanity as well because this way he can have a closer look at the area and make sure for himself there aren't any visitors spying on them. Hopefully it'll help him sleep when it is his turn to hit the emergency blanket turned bedding.

The Captain arches an eyebrow, not quite as elegantly as Tuvok or Seven but with it's own unique brand of power. She has a authoritative eyebrow. He nearly laughs at the thought, but manages to flash a crooked grin her way instead. As always it serves to amuse her, making her lips quark upwards into a semi-smile.

For a minute he expects her to argue and order him to bed, so it's no small surprise when she nods. "Alright, Lieutenant," she replies and starts moving past him. She stops just when they're side-by-side. "Make sure to wake me up in a few hours though. That's an order." The fact she doesn't meet his eyes isn't lost on him.

"Yes, ma'am." It's a familiar response that they've both heard many a time on the bridge and it's actually become a sort of comfort now. After giving a subtle nod in acknowledgment she continues on towards the makeshift sleeping bags set up and begins settling in. He can't decided if her easy relenting is a sign of her true tiredness or something else. The fact she didn't look him in the eye makes his stomach churn again though and makes him think it was something else entirely. He doesn't want to think about what that something could be.

Silently, and with more thoughts clattering up his head than he'd like, he puts a few more twigs in the fire and moves into the trees to make sure everything's as it's supposed to be. He almost hopes it's not. If only so he wouldn't think he were going insane.

 

  
 


	10. Chapter 10

**_B'Elanna's POV:_ **

 

This was ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. If the away team was 'fine' than they'd know where they were and they would have checked in. Was it a possibility that the communications just weren't working? Yes. Out here anything was possible she'd come to realize.

Was it probable? That she wasn't so sure. The resident borg queen could probably give her all kinds of statistics on the matter, but not one of them would she be interested in. The fact was that they didn't know what condition the away team was in. They didn't even know _where_ the away team was.

They should be going in closer to find out. It was a risk, yes, but they'd taken more risks for less before. The rules had their uses. It'd taken her a few years to accept that, but she had accepted it. However, in situations like this, protocol wasn't always right.

Her husband was out there, the captain was out there, and four other crewmembers all in who knows what kind of danger. And they were just _waiting_. She was surprised at Chakotay. There was a time when he would have been among the first to volunteer for a instant rescue mission.

Her old friend had been acting less like himself lately though. If she thought kicking some sense into him would help she would already be doing so. The problem was she wasn't sure even that would help at this point.

 

* * *

  _ **Janeway's POV:**_

 

As it turned out the nights on the planet were enough to freeze a person from the inside out. Kathryn surmised it might be due in part to the storm. After it started raining their first night it didn't let up until the following afternoon. The storm had even caused lightening to strike a tree somewhere and presumably nearby considering the loud 'crack' they'd heard that had been followed by an earth shaking 'bang' as said tree apparently fell.

The storm, having been so intense, caused the sleeping away team members to wake up. They'd then had to put together a meager shelter made mostly out of tree limbs and pieces of detached bulkhead from the shuttle. Afterwards they still hadn't slept much if any and the resulting rain had practically soaked their uniforms which only served to make them that much colder.

As the night turned to daylight and the sun eventually came out from behind the clouds the away team had stripped down to their t-shirts so their uniform jackets could dry. The warm sunlight had felt good on her skin, but it didn't help the ache she felt all over thanks to the effect the cold weather had when mixed with the concussion. Tom and his seldom shown gallant self had maneuvered himself under the makeshift shelter so he had been pushed right up next to her. His body heat had helped keep the hypothermia away at least.

The sun was yet again beginning it's slow decent now though and thanks to the few warm hours they'd enjoyed after the rain their clothes were fortunately dry. A good thing as it turned out because as the sun sank lower the temperature gradually dropped once again. She could only hope it didn't rain this time as well.

In a few more hours, about the time the sun came out again, it would be forty-eight hours since their original departure. If _Voyager_ wasn't aware of their predicament yet than they would be in about twelve hours. There would be a rescue. She wasn't sure how they would go about accomplishing it, but it would be done.

She'd been keeping the malfunctioning commbadge close by at all times, just in case the crew back on _Voyager_ figured out how to cut through the distortions. So far it hadn't so much as made a static filled buzz, let alone a more normal chirp. As much as she'd missed hearing Chakotay's gentle tones and warm smile before, but had ignored it, now she missed them double as much. She had a feeling it was her regret that was making such feelings show their mischievous little head. Perhaps it was the concussion as well.

Blaming it on the concussion sounded pretty good right now.

Maybe she could blame her still present unease about their surroundings on that too. While she was at it she might as well account her all encompassing guilt and growing depression on that head wound as well.

"Um....Captain?"

Kathryn looked up from where she was staring at her commbadge. "Yes, Celes?"

The young bajoran looked embarrassed, distraught, and utterly apologetic. "It's the ration packs," she began, holding out a mushy looking pouch of rations. "I was doing an inventory of them again and...well...we're going to run out sooner than we thought."

"There were enough packed for a week." She knew some had been lost in the shuttle crash, but just the day before they'd still had enough for four to five days at least.

"I know, but we lost a bunch in the crash and then...." the girl trailed off, her eyes flickering down to the ground with a downcast look. "The storm. I forgot to bring them under the shelter with us. A lot of them are completely ruined. I'm so sorry, Captain! Really..I...I'm sorry."

The poor girl seemed as distraught as Kathryn had ever seen her. Tal hadn't appeared this outwardly upset when her friend Telfer had been infested with the dark matter lifeform. "It's alright, Tal. I didn't think about it either," she said with a gentle smile in hopes it would comfort the young woman. "We were all a little distracted at the time as I recall."

"I know. I mean I guess, but... I was in charge of the rations and....I'm sorry, Captain."

"Stop apologizing for things that aren't your fault, crewman. And I can make that an order if I need to. Come here," she added, patting the ground. "Sit down. And stop worrying so much. That's my job not yours."

Tal smiled sadly and only hesitated a second before sitting a couple feet away. Behind her, closer to the tree line, Jarvin and Yosa were talking amicably. Sofin sat with them, but wasn't interacting with them. Meanwhile Tom attempted to start a fire. Kathryn had decided she would give him five more minute to try before she went over to lend a hand.

"How are you, Tal?" she asked once Celes seemed comfortable. "Is your wrist alright?"

Tal looked down at the hand and wrist wrapped in the black material of her own torn uniform. She flexed her fingers and winced. "It's a little sore, but it could be worse. What about you, Captain? Are you okay?"

Kathryn smiled softly. "I'm fine. Thank you for asking."

"Are you sure? Because you seemed pretty cold last night. Colder than the rest of us even."

She mentally cursed herself for allowing her discomfort last night to show. Even if she hadn't been aware that she was showing it. Then again, Tal had been laying on the side of her that Tom hadn't been on. It was possible she'd only noticed because of the occasional uncontrollable shiver that ran down her spine and that the others hadn't noticed.

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

Tal didn't seem all too convinced, but let it go. "I know this mission hasn't exactly gone according to plan, but I wanted to thank you for brining me along."

That was a bit of surprise. She hadn't expected anyone to thank her for getting them in this mess. In fact it didn't quite make sense. "You enjoy camping, crewman?" she asked dryly and with a hint of disbelief.

"No, not really," Tal laughed and her solemn mood turned into a grin. "I have gone camping before though. Well, it wasn't exactly camping. It was one of the bajoran camps so it was more like our house at the time, but...yeah." She cleared her throat before starting over. "What I mean is, thank you for bringing me along because it's given me a chance to talk with Yosa. I'd been feeling a bit....awkward around him lately."

" _You've_ been feeling awkward?" For the second time in less than five minutes the young woman surprised her. She'd expected Yosa to be the one feeling awkward, she knew for a fact he was around herself at least, not for Tal to.

"Do you remember the staged escape attempt during the Teero mutiny? The one Lieutenant Paris and Ensign Kim set up?" Tal asked, breaking her from her thoughts.

She nodded. She had in fact heard about that from Tom and Harry in their reports. As well as B'Elanna in fact, though she had been on the opposing side of it all. She also remembered Tal being mentioned as one of those involved. "I heard about that, yes."

"Well....," Tal blushed lightly and glanced at the three men across the clearing. "When the scuffle started. I kind of jumped on Yosa's back a little bit."

"A little bit?" Tom laughed as he plopped down on the ground with them. "You nearly knocked him over on impact. It was a pretty great maneuver. Wish you could have seen it, Captain. I might have to try it the next time we run into trouble to demonstrate."

Tal blushed even more, but her amusement was evident in her grin. "I did kind of feel bad about it later when everything was back to normal though."

"Don't feel bad, Tal. You can jump on my back anytime," Yosa said as he walked over, having heard enough to know what they were talking about. He tapped the bajoran's shoulder and smiled down at her. "It's our turn to get firewood."

"Oh, right!" Tal jumped up and brushed her uniform off before turning to the Captain and giving her a respectful nod in parting.

Yosa inclined his head in the same manner and, for the first time in weeks, actually met her eyes without looking away. She returned the gesture while Tom gave a small wave and the two ventured into the woods. She watched them go until the shrubbery hid them from sight and it was only then she realized Tom was watching her.

"Something I can help you with, Mr. Paris?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I was just thinking..."

"Dangerous habit where you're concerned."

Tom smirked and didn't disagree. "I was thinking....that maybe you should take your own advice."

"Advice on what, exactly?"

"About not being sorry for things that aren't your fault." Without another word the pilot stood and walked back over to add more sticks to the fire, leaving her to think over what he said and marvel over the enigma that is Tom Paris.

 


	11. Chapter 11

It was official. The forty-eight hour return window had arrived and passed in a worried haze. The away team had failed to return and there had been no contact in any other way. Even calm and collected Tuvok was beginning to show concern in his own logical way while B'Elanna was about ready to rip both his and Tuvok's heads off for their delay. He actually agreed with her and wouldn't blame her for doing so if they reached the planet and found the away team in less than stellar condition.

He'd called a senior staff meeting, mostly for protocol's sake, to discuss the matter. He thought Kathryn might be proud of his show of leadership and respect for the rules. She did so love her protocol.

Once everyone was seated he began. "I'm sure we all know why we're here...."

B'Elanna scoffed and crossed her arms. "Yeah, so we can waste more time."

"I believe, Lieutenant, the purpose of this meeting is in fact to discuss our plan of action in regards of recovering the away team," Seven so helpfully pointed out, much to the annoyance of the Engineer Chief.

"I know tensions are high right now," Chakotay interrupted before B'Elanna could reply. Or drag the former borg's head across the table and strangle her to death with her own hair. At this point he wouldn't put it past her. "But we need to work together… _calmly_...," he stressed with a warning look in B'Elanna's direction. "...if we're going to get the away team back and keep _Voyager_ safe at the same time."

"The Commander has a point," Harry muttered and was consequently on the receiving end of one very threatening half-Klingon glare.

Chakotay felt a headache coming on. "Alright, so the general plan, the only feasible one at the moment, is taking _Voyager_ in closer to the planet. Maybe if we're closer the sensors will work better. The only problem is...."

Seven deemed fit to finish for him. "We are already damaged. Flying into a gravitational distortion will only prove to cause further damage and possibly disable the ship entirely."

"Precisely," he replied, trying not to sound too frustrated at the interruption. "How are the shield modifications coming, Tuvok?"

"The shields have been restored to a constant sixty-seven percent. It is not as favorable as full integrity, but it is an improvement. With the modifications which Lieutenant Torres suggested, and by diverting more power to the shields, than I believe there is approximately a seventy-four percent chance that they will hold long enough for us to retrieve the away team. Assuming the away team is easily located."

"That's better news than yesterday. Good work, both of you." Tuvok inclined his head and B'Elanna continued to glare at various objects in the room without acknowledging his comment. "What about transporters. Harry?"

"They might as well still be inoperative, Commander." The ensign looked as disappointed as Chakotay felt. "We're already diverting most of the power to the shields and the warp core which doesn't leave much for anything else. I can't really fix them properly without the extra power supply."

"It's alright, Harry, I know you're doing your best." He sighed tiredly and rubbed his eyes. "So unless anyone has any objections, and if you do you'd better have an alternate suggestion too, than it's decided." He waited for a moment to see if anyone would object, but no one said a word. The fire shooting from B'Elanna's eyes was probably enough to scare off any protests if there'd been some anyway. "Okay than. At 1700 hours we're moving in. Seven, you and Harry see about boasting the comm frequency to cut through the distortion from the inside. The rest of you just keep doing what you're doing. Dismissed."

As they filed out of the room, each going their respective ways, he remembered the last time he was alone in this room with Kathryn and the way he'd acted. Maybe he hadn't necessarily been wrong, but he hadn't been right either. He should have acted better, more mature, instead of striking out. He knew that now. The thought only made the simmering guilt he was already feeling intensify that much more.

 


	12. Chapter 12

"Anything yet?" Chakotay asked as he held onto the armrest of his chair. The bridge rattled and creaked, but so far the shields were holding and the ship was still in one peace. They were only as far as the outer most rim of the distortion though. Things could still get worse. 

Harry sighed from his station and looked up. "Nothing. It's as if there's a sort of wall separating us from the planet. We can pick up the mineral signatures and the fact there's a storm forming over the northeast part of the continent, but no lifesigns.

"No lifesigns that you're picking up or just...no lifesigns." There was difference between the two, he reminded himself. If they just weren't picking up the lifesigns than it meant the away team could be down there and they just couldn't find them. If there were no lifesigns what-so-ever than the chances were the away team was dead.

"I'm not sure, Commander."

That didn't sound all that encouraging. The knot in his stomach tightened in agreement. "What about the shuttle?"

"There's some debris just outside the planet's atmosphere...."

A sharp painful stab shot through his chest when Harry paused.

"...But it's not enough to be the shuttle. Maybe a part of the shuttle, like a piece of hull plating that broke off, but not the whole shuttle."

Chakotay released the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding until that moment. At least the shuttle was still mostly intact from what they could tell. Just then there was another current, this one stronger, that made the ship rattle once again.

"The shuttle may have run into a pocket of intense distortions," Seven said from the stations behind him. "I am picking up such a layer that extends around the planet. It is possible such intensity disrupted helm control, possibly even life support and shielding, and caused the shuttle to crash land."

"But we don't know for sure," he stated. Not knowing was never a good thing. There were too many possibilities and variables in such situations. "Harry, if we landed, do you think we'd be able to locate the away team from the planet?"

"Maybe," he answered, not sounding all that confident. "Maybe not. It's hard to tell."

Chakotay took a moment to go over their options. There weren't many of them. The longer he stared at the rotating planet on the viewscreen the more he was sure of what had to be done. With his mind made up he tapped his commbadge. "All decks. Prepare to land. We're going in."

 

* * *

 

  
Kathryn sat near the currently unlit pile of sticks and moss they were using as a nightly fire and tinkered with her inoperative commbadge. It really was no use. The distortions were making such a mess of things that they simply couldn't get through to _Voyager_. The more she fiddled with the small device the more she was convinced it wasn't just the distortion giving them the issues though.

She'd run across such natural phenomena before and, while they could certainly be destructive, they didn't generally completely knock out devices such as commbadges and tricorders like this one supposedly was. It may cause interference with communications and sensor readings and it was definitely a navigational hazard, but to utterly deactivate a device so it didn't so much as chirp or buzz... that was something she found a little unusual. Impossible, of course not, but a bit odd none the less.

Mostly she was tinkering with the communication device to keep her mind occupied. In her experience an occupied mind couldn't dwell on things it shouldn't be dwelling on. As an added bonus it also helped distract her from the fact her head was starting to throb again.

The little escapade the team had taken earlier in the morning hadn't helped her head wound apparently. Their exploration did, however, prove informative if nothing else. They now knew for sure that there were no mineral deposits within a two mile radius of their crash point. There was a stream that could be used as a fresh water source should they run out of water before rescue came however. They'd also found a clearing from which they had seen a mountain range not too far away.

Under different circumstances she might have found the landscape to be pleasant and quite beautiful. This wasn't the average circumstance though and so she found it a bit more difficult to see the beauty past the danger.

"One of these days, you know where I'd like to crash land and be stranded for days on end?" Tom asked from next to her, successfully interrupting her thoughts and examination of the commbadge.

"Where?" She had a feeling she knew about what his answer would be.

"A peaceful resort with swimming pools and umbrella drinks and nice exotic wome....views."

"Do you think B'Elanna would appreciate these 'exotic views'?"

"There would exotic views for her too I'm sure," the pilot answered. A soon as he said it, however, he made a displeased face. "On second thought maybe we should avoid the native visuals."

Kathryn chuckled. "I'll tell you what. Next time I'll see about getting us stranded on Risa. How's that?"

Tom grinned lavishly. "Very considerate of you, Captain. Thanks."

A few moments of silence descended again during which she returned to studying the commbadge and periodically glancing over at Tal and Jarvin, whose leg was propped atop some blankets. His leg, as far as they could tell, wasn't broken, but it was however covered in a mass of bruises which made it pretty uncomfortable to move too much.

She was glad to see he was talking so easily to Tal as well. Since they'd left _Voyager_ he'd mostly kept to conversing with crewman Yosa. She wasn't quite sure what to make of Jarvin. He had the makings of a good officer. When Chakotay had believed he'd be one to stay with the 37's, she'd been disappointed to loose him. She also knew though that he wasn't a big fan of Starfleet and had, in the beginning of their voyage, once offered to back Chaktotay if he decided to mutiny. Ironically enough he had backed Chakotay in a mutiny years later while being controlled by someone thousands of light years away.

"Do you mind if I ask you something, Captain?"

Once again Tom pulled her from her thoughts. He seemed to be doing that a lot these last couple days. In fact she was beginning to wonder if he was doing it on purpose. "Ask away, Lieutenant."

As if he wouldn't ask her anyway.

"You and Chakotay...."

She nearly put a stop to that line of questioning right there and then.

"You haven't settled things between you since the Teero thing yet, have you?" he finished, unaware of her inner weariness. 

"What makes you think there's anything that needs settling?"

"You didn't sit together at the movies."

Maybe her head was cracked open more than she thought, but that didn't quite make sense. "The movies?"

Tom gave her a crooked smile as if he knew she'd ask that. "After the Teero mutiny. When we all went to the 20th century movie theatre on the holodeck and watched _'Return of the Creature'_. I've never seen the two of you go to something like that and not be within arms length of each other. I figured that was a pretty good indication something was up."

"Has anyone ever told you just how irritating your observation skills can be, Lieutenant?"

"I think I may have heard something along those lines once or twice. That's not an answer to my question though."

"No, it's not."

"Well?"

"There's nothing to settle, Tom. Really. So don't worry about it." It was a lie, but there was no reason for Tom to know the details of the captain and first officer's relationship. Tom simply watched her for a few seconds without saying anything further and she hoped that meant he'd decided to let it go. She should have known better.

"You know," he began, finally looking away and towards the trees as if casually admiring their beauty. "B'Elanna acted a bit...weird around me for a few hours afterwards, but I couldn't stand it so I made her talk. As I'm sure you noticed no one makes B'Elanna Torres talk. It pretty much turned into a yelling match. Mostly a one sided yelling match. By the time she'd yelled herself out we were good as new though."

Kathryn arched an eyebrow at the story. Tuvok had mentioned a noise disturbance around their quarters right after all the former maquis had had their physicals. A few hours later Tom and B'Elanna had shown up at the movies and from what she remembered they'd barely left each other’s side the whole night.

That was besides the point though. "Tom, you do realize that the Commander and I have one very important difference from you and B'Elanna...."

"You're the Command team?"

"We're not a couple," she deadpanned.

A far too mischievous gleam took up residence in Tom's eyes. "Maybe you should pretend to be. You know, for the good of the crew." Even through his obvious amusement, Tom managed to look solemnly serious. "I know it'd be difficult for the two of you to act like that, but you know...it might just help your command relationship," he said, with just enough sarcasm to be noticeable, but not enough to call him out on.

"Tom, why don't you go help Sofin and Yosa collect wood for the fire."

"If I didn't know better I'd say you were trying to get rid of me."

"Very astute observation skills," she said dryly.

Before Tom could retort a pain filled scream ripped through the peacefulness of the forest. Both she and Tom jumped to their feet instantly just as the yell was followed by a desperate call of, "Captain!"

"Yosa," she whispered upon recognizing the voice. Without further thought she grabbed a phaser and started running towards the source, Tom right behind her with Tal and Jarvin following as well.


	13. Chapter 13

_Voyager_ shook, rattled, and practically groaned as it maneuvered though the distortion and gradually fought it's way to the planet's upper atmosphere. It was at this level that the away team's shuttle had apparently lost a piece of it's outer hull. _Voyager_ 's hull was already damaged so the increased pressure and rough flight had already chipped away another couple pieces of the outer plating.

That kind of damage could be easily fixed from the surface though. So far the reinforced shielding was doing it's job, that's what mattered most. As long as the shields stayed up and the ship held together the rest of the way down than they should be alright.

" _Medical update, Commander_ ," The EMH said over the staticy comm system. He sounded extremely annoyed even through the static.

Chakotay gritted his teeth at the Doctor's timing. "What is it, Doctor?"

" _Lieutenant Hargrove_ _has had an untimely meeting with a bulkhead and has suffered a minor bump on the head as a result. It could have been much worse though. Is there anyway you could possibly not toss the crew around like rag dolls_?"

He bit back his initial annoyed response in favor of being a little more professional. "I'll see what I can do, Doctor, but I'm not making any guarantees. In case you haven't noticed we're flying through something no ship was meant to fly through. Chakotay out," he said, closing the channel before the Doctor could reply. "How much further?"

"Almost there, Commander," crewman Grimes, the conn officer in Tom's absence, reported as the bridge shook more and more violently.

"Begin landing procedures," Chakotay instructed.

"Aye, sir."

From behind him he could hear Tuvok initiating the Blue Alert.

"Entering the lower atmosphere," Harry reported.

"I'm loosing control of the helm, Commander."

"B'Elanna...."

" _I'm working on it_ ," came the instant reply over the still staticy comm channel.

"Grimes?"

"It's a little better, sir. Lowering landing struts now."

Chakotay’s grip on the armrest loosed a fraction as the shaking eased to a dull vibration and the view on the forward screen showed land slowly getting closer.

"Landing struts secure," the relief conn officer reported as the bridge lurched once more.

Gradually the ship lowered and dipped until, with a resounding 'thud' that could be felt in the deck plating throughout the ship, _Voyager_ set down on solid land.

"Touch down complete," Grimes reported, his smile obvious in his relieved tone.

"Stand down Blue Alert. Harry, how are sensors?" The ensign looked up and Chakotay already knew the answer. He felt his stomach sink down to his toes in response.

"No better, Commander. In fact they might be worse."

"Worse? How can it be worse?" There were in fact probably hundreds of reason why it could be worse, but in his condition of declining hope he couldn't really believe it, let alone accept it. "What about communication?"

"Ship board communication is a mess, but it's working." The Operations Chief sighed and shook his head. "Still not getting anything from the away team though."

"Are you picking up anything?"

"Nothing from the shuttle or away team, debris or otherwise. Just before landing I was able to narrow down the dilithium source though. The sensors aren't picking it up now, but I still have the location from before. It should be within four to five kilometers east of our current location."

That should probably be good news, but considering they still had no idea about the away team's whereabouts it didn't do much to raise his spirits. "Could you approximate the location of where the away team landed if they did so as they were supposed to?"

"I have already done so. I have also approximated several trajectories the shuttle may have taken if they had crashed landed," Seven answered from the station behind the command chairs.

Chakotay nodded as he stood and made his way around to the upper landing. "Let's get to work."

 

* * *

 

Kathryn ran through the woods, her heart pounding with each step that crunched against the twigs and leaves, as she followed the sounds of turmoil echoing loudly through the trees. Hundreds of possibilities as to what could be wrong with Yosa circled constantly though her mind until....

She came to an abrupt stop.

As Tom rushed in behind her she held out an arm to keep him and the others from moving any further. There before them was a livid looking animal, easily twice the size of a targ with a mouth full of long sharp yellowing teeth. Each of it's four legs had three equally long claws and it's leathery tail alone looked heavy enough to knock the average humanoid clean off their feet with one swipe.

It was making puffing noises out of it's snout and it's dark brown eyes were narrowed in on the two men it had apparently decided it didn't like. Yosa was on the ground, leaning against a tree trunk, with his hand pressed against his side. Even from this distance Kathryn could see the blood seeping under his hand and knew it wasn't good. Sofin stood over the engineer with a large tree branch that must have fallen during the storm and was trying to keep the beast away.

It wasn't working.

The creature kept lunging and then backing up, using one of it's front paws to make slashing motions towards the tree branch. Though bulky, the creature seemed extremely agile and quick on it's feet. After another lunge from the animal Sofin looked up, his eyes wide, and silently pleaded for help.

Janeway didn't think twice.

With quick aim she fired the phaser...

And watched as the phaser fire barely left a mark on the creature's leathery hide. She tried again and, though it still didn't seem to wound the animal, the creature did turn in their direction this time. It was obviously more than a little irritated. She knew the feeling.

"Spread out," she ordered, giving Tom a light nudge towards the right while the other two went left.

As Tom, Jarvin, and Tal spread out into a circle the beast huffed more and more. It's eyes moved from one to another and she suddenly wished they'd been able to salvage more of the phasers. "Tom," she began, trying to keep eye contact with the creature in hopes it would make her it's next interest and leave the others alone. "I want you to slowly and carefully get Yosa out of here while it's distracted."

"Captain...."

"Just do it, Lieutenant."

He nodded reluctantly and slowly started inching his way closer to the two men against the tree. As expected the minute Tom began to move the creature turned in his direction. Kathryn bent down and picked up the stick at her feet. With a forceful throw she hit the animal on the side, once again it barely seemed fazed, but it did turn back in her direction.

She stepped forward slightly, it lunged, she moved left, it followed and lunged before backing up again. Over and over the pattern continued like some sort of dance. A couple of times it lunged close enough that she could feel the air moving when it swiped it's clawed paw at her.

Meanwhile Tom finally made it to Yosa and between him and Sofin they got the man to his feet. With the first step towards freedom a pained cry tore passed Yosa's throat though and the creature swiftly swiveled back in that direction. The three men stood absolutely still, the tree branch Sofin had been holding now gone in favor of helping to support Yosa.

"Hey, over here!" Jarvin yelled.

The creature turned sharply towards the new noise and made puffing noises in agitation.

"No, over here!"

It spun around towards Tal that time, but when the three men began moving back towards camp again it twisted around and, almost as if it realized their plan, started moving after them.

Kathryn fired the phaser again...and again...and again in quick procession until finally she picked up a rock and threw it. The angry animal ignored it all. She began running after it, not really sure what she'd do when she caught up, but knowing she had to try.

Celes beat her to it.

The young bojoran took a leap and jumped right onto the creature's back. The animal was surprised, or angry, or both at the same time. It started running in the opposite direction, back towards her and Jarvin, but passing the two of them who it now found meaningless. It bucked, it ran, it spun around and all the while Tal clung to it with a death grip.

After only a few seconds more the creature came to a sudden stop and tried to reach over his shoulder with it's front paw to scrape the humanoid off it's back. It didn't quite succeed, but didn't quite fail. One of it's long claws slashed Tal's arm, eliciting a pained cry, and she let go reflexively.

As Tal slipped to the ground the beast spun around. Before it had a chance to fully recover Kathryn grabbed the tree branch Sofin had discarded. Jarvin, following her lead, grabbing another one and together they ran towards the creature, brandishing their makeshift weapons, and making sweeping motions. The animal seemingly gave up and ran away through the trees into a thicker part of foliage, it's puffing noises slowly fading into the distance.

Janeway dropped the branch and moved over to Celes once she was sure the creature was gone. At first glance the wound on Tal's lower arm didn't seem too bad, but she wasn't about to stick around and examine it here. "Let's get back to camp before that thing becomes brave again," she said as she helped the younger women up. Tal's legs seemed a little shaky so she kept a hand on the girl's back as they all quickly moved back towards the shuttle.


	14. Chapter 14

Just as Kathryn, Tal, and Jarvin reached the camp site they heard Tom as he said, "Let's put him over there."

Kathryn watched as Tom and Sofin eased Yosa down onto a pile of blankets while she attempted to get Celes to sit down. Celes wasn't having it though.

"Will he be alright, Captain?" Tal asked as she peered over at Yosa.

"Tom will take care of him." There was no doubt in her mind about that. Tom may not think of himself as a medic, but when it came right down to it he'd do everything possible to save a life. The question was how much Tom could do with so little supplies.

"Can I help?"

Kathryn pushed on Tal's shoulder a little more and was glad when she finally sat down. "Let Jarvin take a look at your arm first." She gave the crewman standing nearby a nod and moved out of the way to go check on Yosa.

As soon as she knelt down next to Tom she could already see that there was a surplus of crimson blood soaking Yosa's undershirt and trickling down his side to the ground. He was loosing too much too quickly. The wound itself looked deep and spanned over half the length of his side.

Tom was trying to use the dermal regenerator, even though they both knew it wasn't working, and wore the same focused expression as when he was fighting for control of the shuttle. Just as with the shuttle, Kathryn feared it was a losing battle.

The familiar feeling of eyes on her drew her attention from Yosa's wound to his face. Sure enough he was watching her through half-closed eyes. Only it wasn't an awkward gaze anymore. She gave him a small encouraging smile which he returned with a grimace.

"Hang in there," she said, using her uniform sleeve to dab at the moisture gathering on his forehead. "You're in good hands."

"That's not what I heard," he joked, giving Tom a light smile that ended with another grimace as the pilot gave up on the generator and tried to clean the wound with water and a piece of torn uniform.

"Hey! Watch it, Yosa," Tom took a moment to flash the injured crewman a crooked smile before turning his attention back to cleansing the wound.

Yosa chuckled softly, but it soon turned into a cough and the next thing she knew his eyes were sliding the rest of the way shut. She tensed as dread set in.

No.

No, it couldn't happen.

"Tom...."

"I'm going to need some bandages or…something..."

Kathryn looked around, but there were no bandages. No medkit. Nothing. Thinking quickly she unzipped her uniform jacket, used the small tear in her undershirt as a starting point, and tore off a couple strips to give to Tom. She watched him tear off some of his own undershirt and then started wrapping the material around the crewman's torso.

As he worked she placed two fingers to Yosa's neck, right over the pulse point. She only relaxed marginally upon feeling a faint throb against her fingers. He was alive for now. That was something at least.

"Is he going to be alright?"

Kathryn looked up to find Tal standing behind them and staring down at Yosa. She traded a look with Tom before answering, "We're going to do everything we can."

"I could use some more water," Tom said, as he finished wrapping up Yosa's injury and held up a blood stained hand.

"I'll get it." With one last glance at Yosa, Tal turned and headed over to their provisions pile. Jarvin followed, his limp more prominent now, to give her a hand.

Looking up Kathryn noticed Sofin staring blankly, but transfixed, at the wounded crewman. "Go ahead and start getting a fire stared, Sofin." He didn't move or acknowledge her in her any way. "Brian," she said a little louder in attempt to get his attention. It worked, but barely.

He looked up with a somewhat confused expression. "What?"

"Get a fire started. We don't want to get caught in the cold unprepared."

"It's still at least three hours before the sun goes down."

She simply stared at him with a look that promised immanent punishment if he didn't comply. He promptly replied with a slightly disgruntled, "Yes, ma'am," and stood to go do as he was ordered.

Once he was gone and the others still preoccupied as well she lowered her voice and addressed Tom. "How is he really?"

It'd been a long time since she'd seen Tom look so ominously serious. "It doesn't look all that great," he answered and sat back into a more comfortable position. "Without a dermal regenerator.....It's too deep, Captain. And I think his lung may have been nicked. If we were on _Voyager_ it'd be an easy fix. He might be sore for a few days, but he'd be alright. Like this though I....," he trailed off and met her eyes and it wasn't hard to see his self-induced agitation and apology. "I don't think there's much I can do."

They broke eye contact as Tal and Jarvin came back. "Here's the water," Tal said, crouching down next to Tom to pour some of the water over his stained hands.

Jarvin limped around to sit on Yosa's other side and handed the Captain the last vial of pain killers they had. "It's all that's left," he said as she accepted the medicine.

Picking up the hypo, she exchanged the empty vial for the fresh and turned the empty vial over in her hand. It'd been almost completely full three days ago when they'd crashed. Between her head, Jarvin's leg, Tal's wrist, Tom's burns and now Yosa they'd used it up.

If she hadn't let Tom give her a dose so many times....

If she'd gone to get the firewood herself....

If she'd just kept them off this planet in the first place...

"I think he's waking up!"

Tal's exclamation broke her trance and as she looked down at the crewman she saw that Yosa really was waking up. She watched as he moistened his lips, his face scrunched up in pain, before a bout of coughing racked his body. Tom reached for the hypo in her hand while she put her free hand on Yosa's shoulder comfortingly. With a soft hiss the hypo was administered and his coughing subsided as the medicine took effect and eased his pain.

When the crewman's eyes opened his gaze flickered sluggishly from one person to the next. When his stare settled on Tal and then shifted to the now material wrapped wound on her arm he cracked a crooked grin of his own. "You're supposed to jump on my back, not a wild animal's," he said, his voice raspy.

"Oops? I guess it was just too hard to tell the two of you apart."

Yosa laughed which, as was the pattern, turned into a wet sounding cough. This time a little trickle of blood colored the corner of his lips. She and Tom shared another look as his chest constricted with each labored breath.

Yosa's eyes began to droop as his breathing slowed, the sheen of moisture on his forehead becoming more pronounced against his ashen skin. In that moment Kathryn didn't need to see the others' faces to know what she'd find. There was a solemn, painful, tension filled aurora around the gathered away team.

But there was no longer any awkwardness.

It was blatantly obvious there was only one way for this to end. Death. It practically hung in the air like a shadow cast by an invisible monster. Maybe this is where those stories of space monsters came from.

"I could really go for a grilled cheese, right now," Yosa breathed out, his eyes sliding shut little by little.

Kathryn smiled softly and gave his shoulder a squeeze. It didn't keep him any more coherent though. "I'll see what Neelix can do when we get back to _Voyager_."

"Thanks, Cap...ain."

The simple, barely audible, sentiment sent a shot of pain through her chest as if he'd stabbed her with a fiery hot knife. Her hand tightened on his shoulder and she willed him to be alright. He had to be alright.

"You always are...," Another cough tore through his throat. "Are...looking out for us."

Yet another soul shattering pain shot through her chest. With each word he was tearing down her resolve. "All part of the job description, crewman," she replied, both trying to help everyone relax with some form of normalcy while simultaneously attempting to distance herself. Maybe it would hurt less then.

From experience she knew it wouldn't.

"No. I don't think so." His eyes opened a little more and even behind the glassy film over his eyes she could see the calm wisdom that came with age. The few sparse white hairs along his temple amongst his otherwise sandy brown hair suddenly stood out more than they ever had before.

His eyes were losing focus by the second as his gaze once more traveled over those assembled around him, almost as if he where trying to memorize each and every one of them. "Make sure Neelix knows....," he took a shuddering breath, his voice weakening along with his body. "It wasn't his cooking that did it."

From somewhere in the group Tal let out a semi-laugh that sounded suspiciously wet.

Kathryn's hand on his shoulder tightened until her knuckles turned white.

Sofin stood and walked away.

And with a last shuttering breath Yosa's eyes slid shut for the last time.


	15. Chapter 15

A dark cloud hung over the camp even as the sun shined high in the sky, it's warm rays beating down on them through the trees as if mocking each and every one of them. Talking around the fire the night before had been limited to 'sorry' when Tal stepped on Sofin's foot and soft 'good nights' when it was time to turn in.

 

No one dared go towards the back of the shuttle.

Jarvin had mentioned the desire to give Yosa a respectful send off on _Voyager_ amongst his friends. Kathryn had agreed and so the fallen crewman's lifeless body had been covered with a blanket and now rested in a place they'd managed to clear inside the shuttle. A single blanket had seemed an acceptable sacrifice for the occasion. 

Kathryn attached her commbadge to her uniform again after yet another failed attempt to get it to function and then sat down next to Celes and Jarvin who were drawing pictures in the dirt with small twigs to keep themselves occupied. They didn't seem to be putting much thought into their squiggly lines though.

"Looks like an elephant," Jarvin said as he looked over at her drawing.

Tal frowned and looked up at him. "It's a terran cat." She tilted her head and looked a little closer. "I think."

Jarvin chuckled and went back to his own drawing. As Tal did the same Kathryn caught sight of the bandage on her arm. It happened to be the same arm as her injured wrist. At least it meant Tal still had one completely functional arm.

Tom had looked it over this morning and, though it was still a bit swollen, it was only a surface wound and should be just fine. Tal did have to flush it out with water a few times a day, but it seemed a small price to pay.

"What happened to your hand?"

Kathryn frowned as she looked over at Jarvin. She followed his curious gaze to where Sofin sat silently across from them. The former _Equinox_ crewman looked confused for a second until he looked down at his right hand which held his commbadage. Under the commbadge was a small scratch that stretched from the base of his middle finger to his wrist. It seemed as if the skin was barely broken, but it was definitely newer than the crash.

Sofin shrugged. "I cut it on the branch yesterday when I was trying to keep that... _thing_ away."

"Let me take a look," Kathryn said, standing and moving to sit next to him. She could have sworn he shifted away a little, but she tried not to put too much thought into it. When she took his hand in hers she definitely felt him tense though.

The cut wasn't bad. She doubted it hurt much at the time or afterwards for that matter considering all the adrenaline coursing through them all. It was her own protectiveness and need to assure their continued survival that had her checking it herself.

"If it starts hurting let our designated medic know," she said, flashing Tom a light smirk from where he was needlessly sorting firewood. "Otherwise it looks fine."

Sofin mumbled a, 'yes, ma'am', and went back to staring unseeingly at the scribbles being drawn in the dirt.

 

* * *

 

 

The first twenty-four hours of searching manually had, at least for Chakotay and his team, been fruitless. He figured it was safe to assume none of the others had found the away team either considering the ship wasn’t buzzing with talk or happy faces upon his return. B'Elanna had been waiting for him at the docking doors when he arrived and when she saw there were no missing crewmembers with him she apparently gave up on giving procedure a try.

"Chakotay..."

"You need to stay and work on repairs, B'Elanna."

"Tom's out there. You know…Tom...my husband."

Chakotay sighed and stopped walking so he could turn towards the Chief Engineer. He understood all too well where B'Elanna was coming from and why she wanted to be included in the search teams. If he were in her place he'd demand the same thing. A perk of being the First Officer, and technically Acting Captain in Kathryn's absence, was that he was able to choose the teams and who went where and did what though.

He simply believed, as the Captain had before, that B'Elanna was needed more on _Voyager_. The repairs the ship needed weren't the standard fix. They needed the expertise and instincts that B'Elanna possessed. Besides which, they were already missing two senior officers and he simply didn't want to risk any more than was needed.

Only he, Tuvok, and Nicoletti were leading search teams. Himself because he couldn't _not_ search for the away team and Tuvok because he was Chief of Security and well trained in this area. It made sense. Even Tuvok agreed it was logical. Not that the Vulcan was biased or anything.

"I know this is hard, but it's hard for all of us. I'd rather you stay here on _Voyager_ and..."

That only seemed to make the half-Klingon even more irritable. "Don't give me that, Chakotay. I already let the Captain try the whole 'we need you to stay here' routine with me and look where it's gotten us. I should have been on that away team, but I went with the Captain's 'request' and now look where we are. I'm going out with the next search teams."

"The only thing I got out of that was that you seem to have some sort of misplaced guilt about all this...."

"Look whose talking." B'Elanna scoffed and rolled her eyes. "The king of misplaced guilt himself. Going to lecture me now too?"

Chakotay frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

B'Elanna gave him a look that clearly said 'are you really that stupid', but then averted her eyes and shook her head. "Forget it. Never mind. I _am_ going out the next time though."  
   
Before Chakotay could press further his commbadge made an off key beep and came to life with a broken up static that seemed to be the norm lately.

 " _Tuvok to Commander Chakotay_."

"Chakotay here. Go ahead, Tuvok."

" _We have returned and Gamma Team should be returning soon as well. I am already in the briefing room_."

In other words, 'what's taking so long' in the language of Tuvok. "Acknowledged, Tuvok. B'Elanna and I are our on way now," he added and closed the staticy commlink. Taking a step aside he gestured down the corridor. "After you."

B'Elanna shot him a glare before storming off down the corridor, leaving him to follow in her wake. When they arrived at the briefing room he followed her inside where the Doctor, Tuvok, Harry, and Seven were already standing there waiting.

Outside the viewport an engineering team could be seen down below heading back towards the docking doors for the day. What really got his attention though was the dented and dirt covered medkit on the conference table. As he suspected there were no signs of Kathryn, Tom, or the others in the room though.

"No luck I take it?" he asked, his eyes flickering back to the medkit.

"We did not locate the away team," Tuvok reiterated. "We did however find a fragment of the shuttle's hull plating along with this," he picked up the medkit and handed it to Chakotay, "not far away from the piece of hull plating. I believe it is safe to assume the medkit, and possibly other supplies we have not yet found, fell out of the shuttle due to damage to the shuttle and failed shields."

Chakotay turned the medkit over, studying it bit by bit. As far as he knew the shuttle had only been equipped with one medkit. The fact they obviously no longer had it was cause for concern. The fact that another piece of the shuttle had broken off was even more worrying.

"It's looking more and more like they may have been forced to crash land," he thought out loud. "Seven, now that we've found this can you pinpoint a more exact trajectory for their flight path?"

"I can narrow their course down, but there are still several trajectories."

"It's a start at least. More than we had to go off of before." He placed the medkit back on the table. "We'll resume searching first thing in the morning. Seven, be sure to get us those narrowed down flight paths by then."

"Yes, Commander."

"Everyone get some rest. We're going to need..." Once again he was interrupted by the off key beeping of his commbadge.

" _Gamma team to Commander Chakotay_."

He tapped his commbadge to open the channel. "Go ahead. Any luck Nicoletti?"

" _Not exactly. We didn't find the away team_."

He wasn't surprised.

" _We did find the mineral deposits though_."

He almost smiled at that small bit of good news. Almost. "That's great. Good work, Lieutenant. Could you tell how much dilithium there was?"

There was a bout of heavy static before the answer came. " _We couldn‘t pinpoint any dilithium. We managed to pick up readings from some polyferranide though along with all kinds of other minerals. The place is an engineer's dream come true_."

"Get cleaned up and then get the coordinates to Lieutenant Torres."

" _Aye, sir_."

Once the channel was closed he turned to the Chief Engineer. "You'll be leading an extraction team first thing in the morning, B'Elanna."

B'Elanna's jaw ticked in aggravation. "I told you, Chakotay, I'm going with the search teams."

"You're going to oversee the extraction and when you're done then we'll talk about it, but I plan on having recovered the away team by then. That's an order, Lieutenant," he added when she was about to argue.

She gave a terse nod in acknowledgement, but didn't say anything. The look of impending death she was giving him said everything she wasn't verbalizing though.

"Unless there's anything else....," he paused for any further complaints and when none came he continued, "Dismissed." As they all filtered out he picked up the medkit again and looked it over, hoping that wherever the away team was they weren't needing it.

 


	16. Chapter 16

"Captain," Tom's voice penetrated her light and uneasy sleep. "Captain, we have another problem."

Kathryn's eyes popped open and she pushed herself up into a sitting position. "What is it, Tom?"

It was still night out, but the full moon and the dying camp fire lit up their campsite enough for her to see enough without straining. It wasn't her turn for the night watch for another hour or so, that much she could tell.

"It's Celes," Tom answered. He stood and stepped back to give her more room to do so as well. "She has a fever."

Her head shot up to look at him as they carefully stepped over Jarvin who was muttering incoherently in his sleep. "What?"

Tom only gestured for her to crouch down with him next to the sleeping bajoran. As she did she noticed Tal had pulled her blanket up around her chin. That wasn't all that surprising. There was a nip in the air just like there was every night.

Tal’s face was scrunched up in a way that spoke of pain though. Reaching over Kathryn gently placed a hand on the young woman's forehead. She was burning up. It was then she remembered how much Tal had been rubbing her arm the night before. She sincerely hoped her suspicion was wrong.

She pulled the blanket away, eliciting a moan of disapproval from the sleeping woman, and picked up the injured arm. Kathryn could already tell it was swollen more than it had been yesterday when she'd last seen it up close. Carefully she unwrapped the bandage, trying not to cause Tal any more pain. Sure enough, to her growing apprehension, the area surrounding the torn skin was read and puffy and the wound itself held all the signs of infection.

"We don't have a regenerator, medicine, or _anything_ ," Tom whispered, as he stared down at the wound.

"I know."

"We're going to have to get rescued really soon or..."

"I _know_." She closed her eyes and tried to fight down the growing irritation. Not at Tom or Celes, but at the whole situation and, most notably, at herself. "We're going to have to sterilize it," she added.

Tom gave her a sideways look. "Captain..."

"It's an old fashioned method, but fire can sterilize a wound."

"Just because it can doesn't mean it'll do any good in the long run."

"We're going to have to try, Lieutenant."

"Captain?" Tal's eyes fluttered open, a slightly glazed look in her eyes as she stared sleepily up at them. "What's wrong?" She closed her eyes and made a sound of discomfort. "I...I don't feel so good."

Kathryn wiped some of the sweat off Tal's forehead that was collecting along her hairline. "I know. You're going to be alright though, crewman." She tried to ignore the familiar ring of those words as memories of Yosa flashed through her mind's eye.

Could things get any worse?

As soon as the thought flashed through her mind a cold drop of water slid down her forehead and was followed by a loud echoing clap of thunder.

The universe itself really was mocking her.


	17. Chapter 17

_**Sofin POV:** _

Of all the things he could be called, a realist was definitely at least one of the titles one the list. The ability to see the realistic side of things instead of all the ridiculous and mostly useless things like delusions of hope and assumptions of rescue had aided him pretty well back on the _Equinox_. Sofin's pessimistic nature, as Marla had once called it, had allowed him to see that to survive they might have to break a few rules. Admittedly even he had been a bit hesitant to follow Captain Ransom's orders at first, but as the situation had become more dire he had adapted. 

It was that nature, that _ability_ , which enabled him to know one thing for certain about the away team's current predicament. They were all going to die. He'd felt it since the moment the shuttle had hit turbulence. He had, mostly as a front for the others, held onto hope for as long as he could.

But then what happened to Crewman Yosa...

It haunted him in his sleep. What sleep he managed to get, that is. He remembered vividly Yosa's scream as the beast jumped out from behind a vine covered tree and slashed him with it's long claws before the man had a chance to so much as comprehend what was happening. He heard that scream ringing in his ears even now.

Then there was the paranoia...

Every sound in the woods was that beast. Every shadow was a threat. He'd been so preoccupied thinking of the various ways they could die out here and so busy looking over his shoulder at every sound that he'd barely noticed the cut on his hand until Jarvin had pointed it out.

Not that such a minor little scratch was important. There were more important things to consider. Like survival. And survival wasn't looking like a very probable outcome right now.

Yosa was dead. Tal Celes was sick and would most likely die any day now as well. They had no more medicine. Their food was running out. There were dangerous animals in the forest that would kill them in an instant given the chance. Meanwhile Captain Janeway wanted them to keep hope alive like a candle burning in a window.  A candle that would soon be blown out by the sheer reality of their situation.

The others couldn't believe her rubbish about a rescue coming for much longer. They simply couldn't. If they did than they were idiots. He wouldn't put it past them to follow her and her ideals to their deaths though.

He wouldn't. He wasn't about to give in to her calming voice or comforting words. She might be formidable, confident, and one tough captain, but even she couldn't fight off their impending fate for much longer. She and the others could go down with their hope still showing, but he was a realist. More than that, he was a survivor.

 

* * *

  ** _Janeway POV:_**

  
The slash on Tal's arm was an angry red and the remnants of blood and pus that had oozed out only made it look all the more worse. She was brave though, Kathryn couldn't deny that. When presented with the idea of sticking a burning hot piece of chipped off console to her arm in an effort to cauterize the wound she had only hesitated a second before agreeing.  She had even managed not to scream.

She had, however, drew blood from biting her lower lip and when the pain had become unbearable she'd turned her head and buried it in her captain's shoulder in what Kathryn was almost certain was an instinctive move. She doubted Tal Celes of all people would be comfortable enough around her captain to cry into her shoulder otherwise.

_Kathryn held the girl close, pushing her head a little further into her shoulder when she let out a muffled yelp as Tom pressed the red hot piece of shrapnel back to the wound once more. "It's almost over," she assured the younger woman quietly. Her own eyes slid closed for a moment and a muscle in her jaw ticked. "You're doing good, Tal."_

_"Just once more and we'll be done. I think," Tom added for softly, but paused before pressing the fire heated tip to Tal's arm._

_She looked up at him and gave him a 'go ahead' nod as Tal's tears began to soak through her uniform. Tom didn't look any better than Tal did or than she probably did for that matter. His face was pale and it looked like there was a storm going on behind his eyes. A second later he pressed the heat to Tal's open wound. Celes tensed, but not a sound came out of her. A moment later she went limp in Kathryn's arms._

_"Done," Tom said, his relief quite obvious. "Wasn't too bad, huh," he joked in an effort to lighten the mood._

_Tal was already unconscious though._

Roughly three hours later and Tal was still sleeping deeply. The wound was no longer bleeding or oozing, but it was still painfully swollen and red. She knew the infection wasn't gone. It was mostly likely only subdued temporarily. If a rescue came soon than she'd be alright.

The problem was Kathryn wasn't so sure a rescue _would_ be coming anymore. If it was too dangerous for _Voyager_ to get closer, if the sensors still weren't working, than they simply wouldn't be able to risk the lives of the entire crew just for the six members of the away team.

Five now, she reminded herself, Yosa was dead.

She couldn't blame those back on _Voyager_ if they couldn't rescue them though. She couldn't condone risking so many lives for so few. She would, however, try to keep the away team's spirits up and their hope alive even if it was misplaced hope. They needed it, that light at the end of the tunnel, to survive. Without it they'd simply give up. It didn't matter if she believed it or not, only that they did.

It was becoming harder and harder to keep up the charade though. Their food supplies were running out, there were only four ration packs left, and it seemed the planet intended to kill them off one by one. And Yosa...

Yosa was dead.

And it was entirely her fault. What kind of captain was she if she couldn't protect even one single member of her crew?

"Captain?"

She nearly scoffed at the title. "Yes, Mr. Jarvin?"

Jarvin held out a handful of variously colored berries. "We found these by the stream just like you said. We're pretty sure they're safe to eat."

"Or least they're safe for the little fury squirrel like animal we saw eating them," Tom added as he came up to her with a blanket full of the assorted berries. He placed the blanket down next to their dwindling pile of ration packs and canisters of water. "We haven't tried them yet though and without a tricorder to make sure...."

She could at least do this for them. "Allow me," she said, cutting Tom off and picking one of the blue colored berries from Jarvin's hand.

Jarvin's eyes widened. "Captain, let me...."

She popped the berry into her mouth and carefully began to chew.

"...Do it," Jarvin finished as he watched her.

"Now you know how the senior staff feels," Tom told him and gave the crewman a pat on the shoulder.

Kathryn shot Tom a glare which he returned with a grin. A pretty forced grin by the looks of it. The berry was sweet, almost sickly so, but had an intriguing zing to it the longer it sat in her mouth. It was actually refreshing after eating ration packs for the last few days.

"Not bad," she said after swallowing. "And I'm not feeling any ill effects and I'm obviously not dead yet. So far so good. We'll give it a couple hours before we say if they're safe to eat or not though."

"That's encouraging," Tom muttered with an amused shake of his head. He knelt down next to Tal before she could glare at him anymore.

"Captain...."

She was beginning to wonder if Jarvin knew how to say anything else. "Yes?"

"What's Sofin doing," he asked as he stared curiously at the other team member who sat across the camp site near the shuttle with a rock in one hand and a long leafless tree limb in the other.

Kathryn glanced over as she knelt down next to Tom and Celes. "He's trying to make a weapon. A spear to be exact," she answered in a completely nonchalant tone. Tom glanced up at her with a raised eyebrow. "It was his idea. I figured it couldn't hurt."

"At least it's keeping him occupied. And out of our hair," Jarvin added, muttering the last part.

She heard none-the-less and arched a warning eyebrow in his direction.

"Sorry," he said, though he didn't sound the least bit apologetic. "I'll go see if he needs a hand I guess."

"I think that would be a very good idea, crewman." From beside her Tom chuckled as he inspected Tal's arm. "Something you find amusing, Lieutenant?"

"No, Captain, nothing at all."

"I don't believe you for an instant."

At that Tom laughed again. As if hearing the laughter had woken her up, Tal mumbled something under her breath and shifted tensely. Her face was scrunched up in pain again and when she opened her eyes they were glazed over. "Cap'ain?"

"It's me, Tal." She couldn't bring herself to even call herself a captain at the moment though.

The bajoran smiled, her eyes focusing and then clouding over again. "Am I better yet?"

"Not yet," she answered, wiping some sweat from Tal's forehead. It now seemed a familiar routine.

"You will be though. No worries," Tom added reassuringly.

Kathryn had to admit he was good. She almost believed him herself. "Just keep hanging in there, Celes."

Tal frowned as a look of confusion crossed her face. Her eyes seemed even more far away than before. "Am I in trouble, professor?"

‘ _It just had to get worse didn't it_?’, Kathryn thought to herself upon realizing Celes was now hallucinating. If a day went by without a set back occurring she'd probably go into shock. She swallowed past the lump that had formed in her throat and made a point to smile lightly however. "You're not in trouble."

"I didn't mean to set the lab on fire, sir. It was an accident."

"It's ok. Just make sure you do a more thorough job next time and burn down the whole building, cadet," Tom replied. Kathryn raised an eyebrow at him to which he simply shrugged.

Tal, in her fever induced state, laughed shakily. "Okay, Admiral."

Kathryn pulled the blanket up around her. "Get some rest, crewman."

"Alright," she mumbled, but before her eyes completely slid shut she frowned and stared upwards. "Captain? Why does the sky look angry?"

"Probably because you set the lab on fire," Tom answered, amusement lacing his voice.

Kathryn followed Tal's stare to the sky though and nearly cursed under her breath. She nudged Tom to get his attention and when he too looked up and saw the dark clouds forming overhead he _did_ curse under his breath.


	18. Chapter 18

_**Chakotay POV:** _

Nothing. Two days of searching and nothing. The crew were getting more and more disheartened. The knot that had taken up residence in his stomach for the last several days was now so tight that he couldn't get more than a spoonful of food down even when Tuvok pointed out that depriving himself of nutrients wouldn't do anyone any good.

He simply couldn't eat. He definitely couldn't sleep. He couldn't even look at the Captain's chair the few times he'd stopped by the bridge without his stomach churning. How much longer could they, could he, survive like this? With the not knowing and the anxiety growing each day?

The only good news, besides the mineral deposit find, was that Gamma team had found some more broken off pieces of the shuttle which now gave them an even narrower path to search. It was still several hundred kilometers of area, but it was once again more than they'd had.

The down side, and of course there was one, was that many of the possible simulations Seven came up with for the new data showed the shuttle crashing into the wall of mountains that laid roughly 164 kilometers to the east. If the shuttle had crashed into those mountains the chances were that it had been destroyed and the away team dead.

He took some small semblance of hope from the fact that according to Seven there were still three other possibilities that didn't involve the away team crashing into the mountains. The odds may not be in those possibilities' favor, but it was at least something for him to hold onto.

 


	19. Chapter 19

Another day had passed and Tal's fever had only gotten worse. Sometimes she was completely coherent, sometimes she slept for hours at a time, and sometimes her eyes took on a dazed look. At the moment she was sleeping. If it weren't for her irregular breathing patterns than she might have seemed fine. As it was each wheezy sounding breath the young woman took reminded Kathryn of how little time she had.

At the rate things were going they all had little time left.

"Your dinner, mon Capitan."

The ration pack Tom presented her with was one of the last few. "Save it," she told him, turning her attention back to the inoperative commbadge she held. Not that constantly modifying the frequency was going to help anymore than it had the last hundred times she had tried.

"Chakotay would use my head to decorate his quarters if he knew I stood by and let you starve to death."

"I'll make sure to note your protest in my log," she replied dryly without looking up.

Tom eased down next to her and simply sat in silence while Sofin walked by. Once the crewman was out of hearing range Tom broke the silence. "I still think you should take your own advice."

Kathryn looked up with a raised eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"What you told Tal the other day. About being sorry for things that aren't your fault." The pilot shrugged nonchalantly, though this conversation was obviously anything but nonchalant, and Kathryn briefly wondered when he'd gotten so secure around her as to discuss this particular topic. "I think you should listen to your own wise words once in awhile."

Kathryn didn't reply at first. She looked Tom over with a carefully guarded expression. He didn't really understand. He couldn't understand. It was a nice gesture though. "I'll have some berries," she finally said. "Save the ration pack for later."

"No can do, Captain," Tom answered with a shake of his head and his usual casual attitude back in place. "You know those few berries Jarvin got Tal to eat?"

She nodded in answer.

"Those were the last of our stash. We'll have to get some more. In the meantime...." He tossed the ration pack into her lap with a crooked smile.

She picked it up and tossed it back at him. "I'll take Sofin and get some more than."

Tom tossed the pack into her lap once again. "It'll be dark in a few hours and it's at least an hour hike to the stream. Plus after all that rain the forest is probably nothing but mud and muck. Nice try though."

Kathryn met Tom's eyes as she plucked the ration pack form her lap, but this time she tossed it towards the supplies pile. "I'll be fine, Mr. Paris. I'm not hungry."

"Yeah. Right."

Sofin chose that moment to rejoin them. He plopped down a few feet away, as he always did, and turned his attention to his commbadge as they all had the habit of doing. Kathryn herself looked up just in time to see Tom staring intently at the crewman's hands.

"Hey, Sofin...," Tom began, still staring at the other man's hands. "What happened to your hand?"

Sofin sighed in annoyance, apparently tired of being asked that. "I cut it."  
  
"I know," Tom quickly quipped. "That's my point."

Kathryn followed Tom's intense look and instantly saw what he meant. "Hold up your hand." When Sofin switched the commbadge to his other hand and held it up she stood and moved over to take a closer look. Sure enough the cut was gone. A thin pale line was the only evidence that there had been a scratch. Even the redness that had accumulated over the last couple days had subsided greatly to a light pink.

The scratch may not have been very deep to begin with, but it generally took a human's skin longer to repair itself when untreated than it had with Sofin. "Did you notice when this healed over, Sofin?"

Sofin was looking at his hand as if just noticing it himself. "I don't know. It had to have been recently though."

"Have you done anything to it?" Tom asked as he too came over to take a look.

"No. I haven't done anything to it." A thoughtful look crossed his face as he tried to remember. "I got some sap on it, but...."

"Sap?" Kathryn asked, her curiosity peaked. Sap had been known to act as a wound sealant and in some cultures she'd come across they used certain types for medicinal applications. If there was a sap on this planet that held those sorts of properties than they might be able to use it to help Tal.

Tom seemed to have the same idea. "Sap from what?"

"When I was making the spear," the crewman answered, picking up the weapon he seemed to constantly carry around. "As I was pulling off the leaves sap leaked out," he explained, pointing to the tiny holes along the wood apparently left by removing the leaves. "Some of it got on my hands."

Kathryn caught Tom's eye and the two shared a look as they silently communicated. "Where did you get that tree branch?"

"It was sticking out from under the shuttle."

She took the spear in her hands causing Sofin to tense, but she continued to study the piece of tree limb. It was pretty smooth, as far as trees went, and had a dark crimson tent to it that got darker around the small holes where the leaves had been removed. It had a distinctive smell as well. Almost like almonds mixed with ground leola root.  
  
"We'll need to look for some more of this," she said, noting how there didn't seem to be any more sap left in this sample. They would probably need a lot of it too. The amount Sofin got on his hands might have healed his small scratch, but for something the size and depth of Tal's injury they were going to need a good sized amount.

"What's the point?"

Kathryn looked up at him, but Tom answered first. "The sap might have a variant of antibiotics in it. It could help fight Tal's infection."

" _Help_ is the main word there. What's the point going gallivanting around the forest and risking running into more creatures which will only get more of us killed. Then who'd be here to help her anyway?"

"It's worth a try, crewman," she answered, her gaze cool and hard as she met his eyes. He promptly looked away. "And it's worth the risk."  
  
 _'At least it's worth my risking it_ ', she thought to herself.

"We may not even have to risk anything," Tom pointed out. "Maybe there's more of it just around camp."

"I don't remember seeing anything like it around here when I was searching for something sturdy enough for the spear."

Kathryn stood and handed the spear to Tom for him to take a look. "We might as well give it a try."

 

 


	20. Chapter 20

Tom's estimation had been correct. Just over two hours after they'd began searching for the same type of tree which had the medicinal sap the sun had gone down. It wasn't safe to wonder around the woods at night. Sofin had seemed especially jumpy at the thought.

So they'd started a fire and settled in for the night without finding anything even remotely similar to Sofin's tree. They'd searched the area around the shuttle as well as the surrounding forest of their camp site. The only thing they'd found was a mere twig that had contained no more than a drop or two of the sap, not even enough to say they found anything. It somehow fit with her luck recently.

Tom had put the meager drop of sap they'd managed to find over a small portion of the burn on his neck as a test. An hour later and Kathryn could already tell that it was helping take away some of redness. There was no doubt the sap worked. The trick was just finding enough of it.

And soon.

Tal was getting progressively worse. She was fortunately sleeping through most it, but Kathryn wasn't sure if she found that reassuring or not. Sofin was right though. Gallivanting around in the woods wasn't safe. The fact that Yosa was now laying lifeless inside the shuttle was proof enough of that.

She couldn't...she _wouldn't_...order them to risk anymore than they already had. She wouldn't even _ask_ them to. No, this was something for a captain to handle. Admiral Paris had once told her that being a Starfleet captain was one of the greatest responsibilities she would ever have. He had been right. And as the captain responsible for so many people, and for so many mistakes, it was her duty to go and do what it was too dangerous for them to do.

She knew more or less how Tom thought though. She knew he would try to stop her. Just like with the ration pack, when he was trying needlessly to look out for her, or when he and others nearly mutinied in an effort to keep her from staying in the starless void.

The more she thought about it, the more she realized just how many times members of her senior staff had disobeyed a direct order to the point of near mutiny. Only once had they actually been forced against their will to do so. That alone should say something about what they thought of her leadership. She should have realized that long ago.

She was going to go and find a cure for Tal, she would do so alone, and she would go as soon as everyone was asleep. It might take awhile seeing as how Tom was already glancing her way every few minutes with a slightly suspicious look in his eyes. It was for the best though. He and the others didn't need to risk their lives. Only she did.

The camp site was quiet, as it had been for over an hour now, when she stood. "Let's get some rest," she said, patting Jarvin on the shoulder to get his attention as she walked by. "We're going to have an early start in the morning so we should get some sleep. Sofin," she began, waiting until he looked up before continuing. "You'll take first watch."

He seemed uncertain for a moment as his eyes darted towards the tree line, but after a second's thought he nodded silently in acknowledgement.

Good. Of all of them Sofin seemed as though he would be the most willing to let her go without making a fuss. She had the distinct impression he wasn't all that fond of her, which would come in handy for the situation.

She followed as Tom and Jarvin piled under the low hanging shelter as best they could with Tal already asleep underneath. She laid down, making sure to lay next to Tal instead of Tom so the pilot wouldn't so easily notice her absence.

Kathryn closed her eyes, but made herself stay awake. She was tired, and she was hungry as well not that she would tell Tom that, but she had to stay awake and only appear sleeping. She could feel Tom's eyes on her from where he lay on Tal's other side. She turned onto her side so her back was towards him and made a show of pulling the blanket around her tighter.

A few minutes passed as she kept herself awake by listening to the insects making their nightly sounds and listened to the wind blow through the trees all around them. Eventually the feeling of eyes watching her every move ceased. She waited a few more minutes to make sure and then carefully turned over to take a look.

Sure enough Tom had his eyes closed and was breathing heavily as he slept. Considering the position he was in she figured he'd fallen asleep while trying to keep an eye on her. Fortunately he was overtired from the last few days and with the decreasing amount of food he was probably low on energy as well. Which was all the more reason for her to go find the sap and let them get the rest they needed.

Carefully, being sure not to nudge Tal or make too much noise, she sat up. Jarvin was fast asleep as well on the other side of Tom. She slowly stood, suddenly thankful for the shadow the three were casting so Sofin didn't notice her movements.

Not that Sofin would notice anyway. His back was turned in her direction and it looked like he was fiddling with his commbadge again. Since the coast was clear she quietly ducked further into the forest and started making her way deeper and in the general direction of the stream. With the moon full and the clouds now gone there was just enough light shinning through the trees overhead to light her way and help her see the various trees.

 

* * *

 

Kathryn had been walking roughly forty minutes or so when she found them. It was the unusual smell of almonds and leola root that she noticed first. Her heart skipped a beat for a moment as she followed her nose. She wasn't sure if it was the same tree at first, but upon closer inspection she could see the shades of crimson and could feel the distinctive smoothness.

There were three of them, clustered close together almost as if growing from the same root system, and there were no other similar ones anywhere else in the vicinity. That explained why they hadn't been able to find anymore back at the camp side. If they did only grow close together like this then the shuttle had probably crushed all of them when it crashed.

She used a near by rock to help break off several limbs and once she had a good armful she was ready to return to the campsite. She was actually feeling better than she had in what seemed like months as she carried the rather heavy pile back in the direction she'd come.

Theoretically she should be able to return with the medicinal sap before anyone noticed she was gone. In the morning they would harvest the branches and administer the sap which would then, hopefully, help Celes fight off the infection long enough for rescue to come. At the moment she was even feeling more optimistic about the rescue.

All it took was one step with her sock covered foot to bring it all crashing down.

In the sparsely illuminated darkness she didn't see the ravine. The patch of muddy ground was muddier than she had been expecting. Her bootless foot slipped, sinking deeper into the mud, and the next thing she knew she was falling down a steep slope.

Her last thought, when she finally stopped falling and her world began to go dark, was that her luck really had run out long ago. By the time a pair of hands hooked under her arms and began dragging her down the dried up ravine she was already unconscious.

 


	21. Chapter 21

Tom smiled peacefully in his still half-asleep state. The bed was a bit lumpy this morning for some reason, but B'Elanna's warm body next to him made up for it. She was too far away for his liking though. It didn't seem right without her feet tangled with his. "B'Elanna....," he mumbled, his eyes still closed as he gradually fell back asleep. He scooted closer and started to throw an arm around her, but a hand on his chest pushing him back stopped him.  
  
"Get the hell away from me, Paris. I'm not your wife."  
  
Tom's eyes popped open and he sat up with a start. This wasn't his bed. With a look to his left he realized that hadn't been B'Elanna either. It was Jarvin. "Sorry, Jar."  
  
Jarvin's eyes were still closed, but there was an amused smirk on his face. "Remind me to tell B'Elanna you tried to cuddle with me."  
  
"Yeah, sure," he said sarcastically and rolled his neck from side to side to work out the kinks.  
  
The first few rays of morning light were beginning to peak through the trees. He must have slept right through the night. Which meant the Captain hadn't woken him for his night watch shift again. Wait...  
  
The Captain.  
  
His eyes snapped open again and he looked over to where he knew she had been when he'd fallen asleep. She wasn't there. Only her blankets remained. Something didn't feel right.  
  
His heart leapt into his throat as he stood and nudged Jarvin with his foot. "Wake up," he said, his eyes scanning the camp site for the Captain. She wasn't anywhere to be seen though.   
  
"What's wrong?" Jarvin asked, sensing his tension, as he stood as well.  
  
"Captain Janeway," Tom answered simply. His gaze fell on Sofin who was sitting up against the large rock by their supplies. As Tom moved over to Sofin, Jarvin looked around for the Captain. When he too came up empty he followed Tom.  
  
Upon getting closer Tom realized Sofin was asleep. The little p'taq had fallen asleep. Tom supposed he couldn't be too angry about that fact when he himself had fallen asleep even though he'd intended to stay awake and keep an eye on the Captain. He'd recognized the look on her face the night before and it hadn't set well with him. He simply hadn't been able to fight off the call of sleep though. Apparently Sofin had had the same problem. He reached down and shook the crewman's shoulder. "Sofin, wake up."  
  
The younger man woke with a start, his hand automatically gripping the spear as his eyes instantly widened. "What? What's going on?"  
  
"You fell asleep," Tom answered dryly. The other man at least had the decency to look apologetic. "And the Captain's gone."  
  
"Oh," Sofin released a long breath and relaxed slightly, just enough so his shoulders weren't quite so tense. "Is that all."  
  
"Is that all?" Jarvin repeated incredulously. "Do you even _have_ a brain? Or just a hearing problem?"  
  
Sofin rolled his eyes and pushed himself into a standing position. "That's not how I meant it. I just meant...it could have been something worse."  
  
Before Jarvin could reply Tom spoke up. "Did you see the Captain go somewhere? Did you hear anything?" He had a pretty good idea where the Captain had gone, or at least why she had gone, but knowing what direction she'd went would be helpful.  
  
"No, I didn't see anything," he answered with a shake of his head. "Or hear anything. What's the big deal anyway?" he asked, obviously noticing how tense the other two men were. "She probably just left early this morning to go look for some of that sap. She'll be back."  
  
"Even if she left as soon as the sun started coming up she should have been back by now," Tom pointed out. "You even said yourself yesterday how 'dangerous' the forest is. She shouldn't have to be alone out there."  
  
Sofin scoffed. "Captain Janeway can take care of herself."  
  
There were practically sparks jumping from Jarvin's stare. "Why don't we take you out to the middle of the forest, tie you to a tree, and see if _you_ can take care of yourself. How does that sound?"  
  
"That's enough," Tom said, using his best glare on the two. It wasn't nearly as impressive as the Captain's, but it did the trick. "You two can kill each other later. Right now we need to find the Captain. Sofin you can stay here with Tal and make sure she's alright. Jarvin and I will see if we can find the Captain."  
  
"Fine with me," Sofin said in annoyance before going over to sit by Celes.  
  
"Come on, let's go." He picked up the phaser Sofin had left on the ground and lead the way into the woods.  
 

* * *

  
An hour of searching for the Captain turned into two hours and then three. They were more or less heading in the direction of the stream now, but so far there had been no sign of Captain Janeway. None that they could tell at any rate. Neither he nor Jarvin were exactly expert trackers.   
  
Tom was just about ready to give in and head back to the camp site in hopes that the Captain had returned while they were away. He was going to suggest it to Jarvin, but before he could he caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye.  
  
Turning he saw the distinct crimson color of the tree Sofin had found. If they went back to the camp with a few of those branches than the day wouldn't be a complete loss after all. He nudged Jarvin and pointed to the three trees growing together. "We'll grab a few of those and head back to camp. If the Captain's not there then we can always head out again."  
  
Jarvin nodded in agreement and followed him over. As they started gathering branches Jarvin stopped, however, and put his collection down. "Hey, Tom...."  
  
The pilot glanced over briefly as he tried to dislodged a particularly stubborn branch. "Yeah?"  
  
Jarvin was staring at one of the limbs. "Part of this branch has been torn off. And so has this one," he added and pointed to another branch. "This one too. Doesn't look like a cut an animal would make either...."  
  
Tom stopped his yanking and looked at what Jarvin was indicating. The short limbs definitely looked like something had been breaking them off. In fact it kind of resembled how the two limbs he'd just broken off looked. Maybe it wasn't so much of a 'something' as it had been a 'someone'.  
  
"Do you think it was the Captain?"  
  
Tom considered the question for a moment as he studied the tree and glanced around at the surrounding area. "It's probably no more than half an hour walk to the camp site from here if you were to walk straight there. Maybe a little longer if it was dark out."  
  
"In other words, if it was the Captain, what happened to her after she got the branches?"  
  
Tom wasn't sure he wanted to know. The memory of the creature that had killed Yosa flashed through his mind at the thought. "Let's take a look around." He put his small collection of broken off limbs on the ground and started looking for any sign of the Captain.  
  
Together they walked along, taking the path that looked most clear of rocks and other obstacles. A few minutes had passed when they came upon a ravine. The edge and steep slope down looked slicked with mud left from the storm the night before last. Rocks stuck out of the slope and at the bottom more rocks, dirt, and twigs littered the narrow pit.  
  
At night, with only the moon as lighting and the mud even fresher, it would be easy to miss the sudden drop and even easier to slip down it. If someone was carrying a load of branches at the same time....  
  
Tom's heart started racing. His eyes followed the ravine as they continued to walk and he was more than a little relieved when he didn't see the Captain laying in the ditch anywhere. He was almost ready to brush the thought from his mind, his heart nearly back to it's normal steady rhythm, when Jarvin stopped dead in his tracks.  
  
Tom turned back to see what the problem was and saw the other man inching closer to the side of the ravine and staring at something at the bottom. "What is it?" he asked, almost afraid too know the answer. He glanced down at the bottom and didn't seen a Starfleet Captain laying prone there or even an empty uniform where a captain used to be.  
  
"Look down there," Jarvin said, pointing to a spot at the base of the slope. "The sun keeps reflecting off of something down there. Almost...metallic like."  
  
Tom looked, but didn't see anything. He was looking so close for Jarvin's metallic reflection that it took longer than it probably should have taken him to realize that there were branches, like the ones they'd been collecting only a few minutes ago, scattered around the area Jarvin had pointed to. He looked down at his own feet and realized he was also standing on one.  
  
That sinking feeling in his stomach came back and his heart gradually started racing again. "Let's take a closer look."  
  
It took a couple minutes to descend the slope carefully without falling. Once or twice either he or Jarvin would lose their footing on the slick decline and nearly fall, but eventually they made it to the bottom unharmed.  
  
The second he got his balance on solid ground Jarvin headed over to the spot he had been staring at. Once there he knelt down and pushed away a couple branches. Tom watched as the crewman stared down at something, but he couldn't tell what it was with the branches blocking his view.  
  
With a deep frown and his brows creased Jarvin carefully picked up whatever it was that he'd found and then stood up. "The Captain was definitely here," he said somberly and held out his hand to show Tom.  
  
It was the Captain's commbadge.  
  
But there was no Captain Janeway in sight.


	22. Chapter 22

Chakotay was tired. He hadn't been this tired in awhile. His feet ached, he was fatigued from lack of sleep, he had a headache, and even his back was stiff. Yet he couldn't bring himself to stop. He felt that if he just kept going, kept walking forward, then he'd find Kathryn and the others. It was pure determination that kept him on his feet and moving.  
  
He knew the others were just as tired, but no one had complained once about the work. Well that technically wasn't true. His team, and the other teams as well from what he'd heard, hadn't wanted to _stop_ working. Whenever it was time to return to the designated transport spot and return to the ship, via transporters now thanks to B'Elanna's work with portable pattern enhancers, everyone seemed disappointed. Yesterday Telfer had even asked if they could keep looking just a bit longer. He'd hated to have to say no, but staying off ship at night simply wasn't an option.  
  
A few more hours and they'd have to head back again. He hated having to go back with absolutely nothing almost more than he hated having to stop looking. _Voyager_ would be completely repaired soon and when it was.....he just wasn't sure how much longer they'd be able to stay and look. Eventually, if they didn't find any evidence that the away team was alive, he would have to give the order to leave the planet and get back on course.  
  
As he and the others emerged from an exceedingly dense portion of the woods they could see the base of the mountain range not far away. Chakotay sighed and rubbed his eyes. "Anything, Harry?"  
  
It was a familiar pattern by now. They would stop to a take breath and take some readings with the tricorders. The tricorders that were on the fritz and only got worse when taken off the ship. Not once had they actually detected anything, but he still asked every time.  
  
"I'm not sure...."  
  
That was new. All day Harry had been saying 'no' almost immediately and the past couple of days when it had been Golwat in Harry's place she had said the same. "Not sure about what?"  
  
"There's some energy readings towards the mountains...," he paused, staring down at the tricorder. "They're not lifesign readings, but I can't identify the type of energy output it _is_. The tricorder can't pick up enough through the distortions to really...."  
  
Harry trailed off again and Chakotay felt the urge to shake him to get him to talk. He restrained himself though and chalked it up to his fatigue. "Harry, you want to try actually finishing a sentence?"  
  
Crewman Fitzpatrick scuffed amusedly at that as he and Jor gathered around to see what Harry had.  
  
"Commander, I don't think the gravitational distortions are naturally occurring." Harry raised the tricorder a bit in the air as if trying to get a better reading. He sighed and lowered it again before continuing. "I can't really tell. It's just a hunch really, but these readings, the ones I can get at least, aren't something I've ever seen naturally occurring."  
  
What the hell was going on with this planet? Chakotay looked towards the mountains. If it wasn't already getting late they could probably make it there to check it out. As it was..... "Let's get back to the ship."  
  
"We could probably make it a another hour, Commander," Jor pointed out.  
  
Chakotay shook his head. "We'll get started earlier tomorrow."  
  
"We got started pretty early today," Telfer muttered under his breath.  
  
Chakotay would have reprimanded him for the apparent wise crack, but it didn't take a telepath to tell what Billy was really thinking. Telfer was staring into the trees towards the mountains looming nearby, his forehead creased with worry and his eyes as far away as the missing away team themselves. The crewman hadn't meant the comment to be a complaint. It was more a show of his diminishing hope.  
  
He'd been more hopeful when he'd first volunteered for the search party. Chakotay hadn't actually been taking volunteers, much to the dismay of a very willing crew, but Telfer's request was one he hadn't been able to deny.  
  
 _"Commander Chakotay!"  
_  
 _Chakotay stopped and turned just in time to see William Telfer jogging down the corridor in his direction. "What is it, crewman?" He asked once the younger man came to a stop in front of him.  
_  
 _"I want to volunteer to help look for the away team."  
_  
 _Chakotay's brows creased as he stared at him. Telfer was a hypochondriac. Though he'd been considerably better since Kathryn took him on an away mission, he still hadn't gone out of his way to volunteer for mission_ _like he seemed to be doing now. "You want to be part of the search team?"  
_  
 _Telfer nodded without hesitation. "Yes, sir."  
_  
 _" **You** do?" He asked, trying not to sound too much in disbelief.  
_  
 _"I want to help find Tal. She would do the same if it were me."_  
  
Chakotay hadn't been able to fault his reasoning then or now. The fact he and Tal Celes were best friends was as well known as the fact he was a hypochondriac. Besides which, he'd never before willingly volunteered for a mission, so his decision to do so this time should be acknowledged and taken advantage of.  
  
Chakotay gave Telfer an understanding half-smile and put a hand on his shoulder. "We'll find them," he said once he had the young man's attention. "But we won't find them in the dark."  
  
Telfer nodded. "Yes, sir."  
  
Chakotay glanced around the landscape once more before leading the way back towards the transport area that had been set up as a half way between the ship and the mountains. Tomorrow was another day. And hopefully it'd be a better one.  


* * *

_**Tom** **POV:**_   


"What do you think we should do?" Jarvin asked as he and Tom looked down at the leaf, twig, and rock covered ground of the forest.  
  
After finding the commbadge they'd looked around and soon found spots of blood on a couple of rocks. With a foreboding hanging in the air they looked a bit further and eventually found drag marks a few feet away where the mud became thick again. They had then followed the drag marks, finding a couple pieces of torn material along the way, until the trail ended when the ground became progressively more rocky.  
  
Tom thought for a moment as he studied the rough terrain. "Let's head back to the campsite," he answered. "We'll tell Sofin what we've found and then search some more." Whatever it was that had dragged the Captain away couldn't have gotten too far. If it was an animal he doubted it could pull a human far for very long over that kind of land.  
  
Of course, there was also the chance an animal would have already eaten her though. The fact they hadn't found her, a torn to shreds corpse or otherwise, almost made him feel better considering the alternative. And if it wasn't an animal....  
  
Maybe they weren't so alone as they'd though.  
  
And maybe the feeling of being watched a few days ago wasn't just his imagination after all.

 


	23. Chapter 23

As Kathryn gradually awoke she felt nothing but pain. Her head was throbbing, her whole body ached from head to toe, and the chill in the air made her fingertips feel like heavy clumps of ice. With her eyes still closed tightly she shifted in hopes of alleviating some of the pain, but the motion only sent a burst of stabbing pain through her side. She lay still a moment, trying to catch her breath. It felt as if _Voyager_ itself was sitting on her chest.  
  
At a painstakingly slow speed some of the pain ebbed away the longer she refrained from moving. As the pain eased her mind became clearer. Prying her eyes open was harder than she'd expected. Her eyelids felt like lead weights.   
  
It took every ounce of strength, what little she already had, to open her eyes. Once done however she blinked a couple times to clear the haze and eventually the blurred world around her came into focus. She was expecting to find the now familiar trees of the campsite to be hanging overhead. If not that then perhaps Tom's grinning face in her line of sight.  
  
It was neither though. Instead she found herself staring up at rock. Solid gray rock with streaks of silver and white running through it that looked suspiciously like a cave ceiling. That wasn't right. The last thing she remembered was losing her footing and falling down the ravine slope. There hadn't been a cave in sight. She tried to push herself up, to get a better look at where she was, but a wave of dizziness washed over her in cascades. The next thing she knew a hand was on the base of her neck carefully pushing her back down. Perhaps Tom was here after all.  
  
Except, as the dizziness faded, she realized that the hand which had pushed her back down had felt oddly silky. Tom's hands weren't nearly that smooth. She doubted anyone she knew had hands quite that silky and soft. Suddenly she didn't feel nearly as safe anymore.  
  
Her eyes snapped open as she quickly sat up and almost just as quickly she nearly emptied the contents of her stomach right there and then. Her eyes clamped shut again as she focused on calming her now churning stomach and seconds later the same soft hand was just below her throat pushing her right back down. She didn't have much choice other than to comply.  
  
As she tried to regain some semblance of energy she heard something....a voice...a few feet away. It wasn't a familiar voice and she couldn't understand the actual words either. Soon there was another voice, different and still equally unfamiliar. A third voice, this one much closer as if the speaker was down by her feet, spoke up and a moment later she felt someone at her side as if they were looming over her.  
  
She swallowed past her dry throat and opened her eyes. Whatever it was, whoever it was, was of a species she'd never encountered before. His metallic silver looking eyes were round, much rounder than a human's, but everything else was very similar. Except that he was glowing.  
  
His face, and perhaps his whole body, was luminescent. It gave off a soft glow that was just barely noticeable, but enough so that it made his features look softer yet his dark hair looked more vibrant. He was staring at her intently, his metallic eyes trying to see right through her skin and to her insides. There was an intelligence in those curious and calculating eyes. There was no doubt about that.  
  
The alien, likely a native of this world, held up a small wooden bowl to her lips. He wanted her drink whatever liquid was inside, but she wasn't so disoriented that she was about to do that. All she knew at this point was that they had brought her here. She didn't know for what purpose or what they planned to do with her. For all she knew the substance he wanted her to drink could be poisonous.  
  
"I'm Kathryn Janeway," she tried to say, but her throat was still too dry and it came out a hoarse crackle.  
  
A second later two others, these with bronze colored eyes, were knelt on her side and looming over her just as the first one was. One of them picked up a strand of her hair and then let it drop as if studying it's texture and density. The other was running a grimy looking tricorder, like the one that had fallen out of the shuttle on their descent, over her. She wasn't sure what he expected to do with it considering tricorders weren't working on this planet.  
  
The first alien, the one still knelt on her other side, apparently got tired of waiting on her. Before she even registered that he was moving two of his fingers pinched her nose, effectively cutting off her air supply, and poured some of the liquid into her mouth. With her head still sluggish and her reflexes slowed the onslaught of cold liquid forced it's way down her parched throat.  
  
She coughed and spluttered, causing one of the bronze eyed aliens to jump in surprise a little. As she caught her breath she registered, in the back of her mind, that the liquid had tasted like nothing more than water. Not that the taste was anything to depend on, but she found it interesting none the less. Or she would have if she weren't already losing consciousness again. As her vision blurred and her mind gradually slipped back into painless oblivion she vaguely thought she smelled leola root. Leola root and almonds.

 


	24. Chapter 24

 

After returning to the ship Chakotay had immediately called a meeting with the senior staff and the search team leaders. Nicoletti from Gamma team still hadn't checked in. He was beginning to get worried, but since they still had five minutes till check in time he was going to hold off rushing into action until those fives minutes were up.

"Alright," he said with a tired sigh as he slid into the chair at the head of the conference table. "Tuvok, did Beta team find anything?" As if he didn't already know the answer.

"We did not find any signs of the away team, however, crewman Gerron picked up some faint energy readings coming from a system of caves we found at the base of the mountains."

Harry immediately looked up from where he was reading something on a PADD. "We found energy readings coming from the mountains too."

"Beta team was north of us, weren't they?" Chakotay asked, his brows furrowed thoughtfully. "You were closer to the mountain, but further north. If you were picking up the same readings that far away from us...."

"Chances are whatever is producing those readings is pretty big," Harry finished.

"Do you think it could be something from the away team," Neelix asked. "Like a beacon so we know where they are?"

Harry shook his head. "I doubt it. Even if we're only picking up faint readings the chances are we'd be able to tell if it was Starfleet or not. This is...not anything I've seen before. The more I go over the data the more I'm sure it's not a natural occurrence either."

"Let me see, Harry," B'Elanna said, reaching for the PADD with the recorded readings. She studied them for a minute before agreeing, "He's right. And look at this....," she tapped something into the PADD and handed it back to Harry.

Harry's eyes widened. "How didn't I notice that...."

"Notice what?" Chakotay asked. His nerves were already on edge with everything else, the riddles and skirting of facts was only irritating him more.

"The energy signatures are similar to the energy signatures being produced by the gravitational distortion. And there's something else....," he trailed off for a minute with a look of deep concentration as he went over the data. "I don't think this, whatever it is, was there when we got here. Even with barely working sensors Seven would have been able to pick these up the first time we approached. They weren't there until after the shuttle left."

"You believe the shuttle may have activated something upon entering the atmosphere," Seven said.

Harry shrugged. "It's possible. It's the only thing I can come up with that makes sense."

" _Transporter room to Commander Chakotay_."

Chakotay tapped his commbadge. It was slightly more clear now, but there was still a tinge of static. "Chakotay here, go ahead Mendez."

" _Gamma team has arrived, sir, and Lieutenant Nicoletti is on her way to the conference room now_."

With half a minute to spare, Chakotay realized. "Acknowledged. Thanks, Mendez."

As if on cue the conference room door slid opened and Nicoletti practically glided inside. She was out of breath as if she'd run the whole way. Judging by how quickly she'd gotten here, Chakotay wouldn't be surprised if she had. "Cutting it pretty close. Much longer and we were going to have to send a search party to look for you too, Lieutenant."

"Sorry, Commander, but it was worth it." She grinned, the first true grin Chakotay had seen since the away team had left _Voyager_ several days ago. "We think we know where the away team is."

 

* * *

 

"I just don't see how it's worth the risk!"

"Why don't you try thinking of something other than yourself for ten minutes and then you might just get it."

Tom rubbed his eyes tiredly as Sofin and Jarvin continued to bicker. He'd expected some hesitation on Sofin's part, it's just who he was, but upon passing on what they had found the security officer had flat out said it wasn't a good idea. Sofin didn't want to go back into the woods, not even for the Captain, and he truly didn't seem to care one way or the other that the Captain's life was in danger.

It irritated Tom beyond words. Not that he needed words with Jarvin around. Jar seemed to have no problem arguing with Sofin. None what so ever. He would have been more than content to let Jarvin continue to argue, but the whole thing was quite honestly giving him a headache. More importantly, their bickering wasn't going to help find the Captain any faster.

"This really isn't up for debate," he finally pointed out dryly. "We're going to look for the Captain one way or another the only question is...."

"What do you care anyways?" Sofin continued with a scowl in Jarvin's direction, ignoring Tom all together and cutting him off completely. "From what I heard you were one of the first to suggest mutiny when _Voyager_ was stranded in this quadrant."

Jarvin didn't seem to like being reminded of that. Tom thought he might have actually caught a glimpse of shame in the man's eyes before it was replaced once more with anger. "That was nearly seven years ago," Jarvin replied, a fist clenching at his side. "My views of Captain Janeway have changed since then."

"Well good for you," Sofin said. "Why don't you take your Janeway appreciation and run off into the woods on a wild goose chase while I wait here like the rational person."

"You mean selfish, idiotic, and..."

"Captain Janeway?" Tal's tired, but concerned, voice suddenly came from behind them. They all turned to look and were surprised to see her standing a few feet away, a hand pressed to her injured arm as if to ease the pain. She seemed unsteady on her feet, but her eyes were at least semi-coherent as she stared at them in confusion. "What's happened to Captain Janeway?"

Tom shot the two crewman a look as if to say 'good job idiots' and walked over to their injured crewmate. "Don't worry about it, Celes," he assured her, slinging an arm around her shivering shoulders to help guide her back to the shelter. He and Jarvin had brought some of the branches back with them, but they hadn't yet had the chance to administer the sap. In the argument that had ensued upon their return combined with his worry about the Captain the thought had simply slipped his mind.

Tal took a couple steps, but then stopped and frowned at him. "No," she said clearly. "I want to know what's going on. Where's the Captain? Is she okay?"

"She fell down a ditch and disappeared," Sofin oh-so-helpfully answered.

"We're going to go look for her, right?"

"Jarvin and I are going to keep looking in the morning," Tom answered. It was getting too late to go back out now. Even if they were fully armed the chances of them finding her in the dark were slim to none. "Sofin is going to stay here with you and..."

"I'm going to help look too," Tal interrupted, her voice weak, but determined.

Jarvin came up behind her and gently started pushing her the rest of the way to the make shift shelter. "You need to rest."

"It's dangerous out there," she stated, as if the rest of them weren't aware of it. "We can't leave her out there."

Tom started gathering the branches and bringing them over to the shelter. "We're not going to."

Tal looked at the branches with curiosity as she half-sat and half-fell down. Her energy levels were obviously being depleted with all the moving she was doing. "What are those for?"

Tom plopped down next to her and handed Jarvin a few branches so he could start harvesting the sap as well. "They're for you. We're going to cover you with sap from head to toe and stick you to a rock in hopes you'll stay put."

Tal didn't seem amused by his joke. "What is it really for?"

"We think it might help you fight that infection," Jarvin answered as they plucked the prickly leaves off the limbs.

Tal nodded, her eyes beginning to droop as she lost the battle to stay awake. "Oh...," she said, easing back down into a laying position as her eyes finally closed all the way. "Then can I help look for the Captain?" She asked, the words coming out as barely a whisper as she drifted off back to sleep.


	25. Chapter 25

Kathryn wasn't sure how long she'd been unconscious. Upon waking up again she'd found herself alone in the room. And it _was_ a room as she'd discovered, not just a simple cave. The walls were made of rock, whether naturally formed or carved she wasn't sure. There were no windows, but there was a door made of a familiar crimson wood and stone.  
  
She was still cold and the few blankets they'd placed her on didn't keep the coldness of the ground from seeping through and into her already aching limbs. The room was illuminated softly, not by fire or any kind of artificially produced lighting fixtures, but by the stone itself. The silver wisps in the walls seemed to cause a reflection, from what she wasn't sure, and produced just enough light for her to see by.  
  
Not that she could do much seeing. Movement was excruciating and nauseating all at once as she'd quickly discovered. If she had to take a guess she'd say probably because of another head wound irritating the one she'd already had. She was also positive that her ribs, if not broken, were at least badly bruised. She was leaning more towards 'broken' considering the pressure in her chest and difficulty breathing when sitting up. She also couldn't move her left leg. She couldn't be sure exactly why. It didn't hurt, she simply couldn't move it.  
  
She also wasn't sure how long she'd laid there while dozing in and out, but eventually she heard the door scraping against the floor as it was opened. She turned her head and tried to see who it was and wasn't all that surprised to see the one from before, the one with the silvery metallic eyes. Of her three visitors before he'd seemed the most interested in _her_ personally, not just in a scientific way as the other two had seemed to be interested. There was another one that she couldn't see very well standing outside the room, but that one- male or females she couldn't tell- didn't come in and when the first one closed the door behind himself they were officially alone in the stone room together. She watched with narrowed eyes as he walked over to the wall on her right side and picked up the wooden bowl left there from his last visit.  
  
"I'm Kathryn Janeway," she said, her voice a bit stronger than last time, but still cracking. "Why did you bring me here?"  
  
The alien glanced over at her with curiosity shinning in his large round eyes before calmly returning to his work. She watched as he added the contents of the bowl he'd brought with him to the first bowl which he'd left in the room. As he swirled the bowl to get the two substances to mix she caught a whiff of that leola root and almond smell again and this time it was mingled with something....something with a zing.  
  
"I need to return to my people," she tried again as he came over and sat down beside her. He put the now empty bowl down, this time ignoring her statement completely, and offered her the bowl full of a translucent liquid.  
  
The last time she had drunk the liquid, by force, it obviously hadn't killed her or had any adverse effects from what she could tell. Some poisons worked slower than others though. There was also the fact that he'd obviously added something to it this time. It wasn't just water anymore, if had even been the first time. She was extremely thirsty though. She couldn't remember the last time she'd willingly had a drink and after the accident, which had probably lead to blood loss, she was even thirstier. Besides which, if she didn't drink willingly he could very well force her to anyway.  
  
Judging by the way he was watching her intently and pushing the bowl closer to her face she wouldn't be surprised if he did. She accepted the bowl and upon doing so had the brief urge to throw it across the room and watch it's contents decorate the rock walls. She very nearly did and probably would have were it not for the intensity of his eyes as he watched her every move. It almost seemed as if he knew what she was thinking, what she was considering doing. It wouldn't have nearly the same effect if he wasn't surprised by her actions.  
  
With a deep a breath, or at least as deep as she could make it, she pushed herself up just enough to take of sip of the liquid. The nauseating and tangy smell filled her nostrils as she tipped the substance past her lips and as it slid down her throat she felt a warm tingling following in it's wake. The warmth spread from her throat to her stomach and almost encased her from the inside out. It only lasted a second or two, but for those one or two seconds she found relief from the cold.  
  
And from the pain, she realized.  
  
At her alien visitor's urging she took another sip. This time she recognized the zingy smell. Fermentation. They had fermented the medicinal sap and mixed it with water. While there was still a dull pain she felt much better. In fact she felt well enough that she was able to sit the rest of the way up without blinding agony washing over her.  
  
As she sat up straight she felt a gentle hand on her back trying to help support her. Once stable the hand was gone and her visitor scooted back a little as if to give her room. His eyes had yet to stop watching her.  
  
"Thank you," she said, holding up the bowl to indicate what she was thankful for.  
  
Her visitor, or captor, or whoever he was tilted his head with a frown. He obviously didn't understand a word she was saying just as she hadn't been able to understand anything she'd heard the last they spoke. Glancing down she realized her commbadge was gone. As was her last remaining boot, which explained why her feet were so cold.  
  
Her captor tapped her shoulder. "Machie lonosata."  
  
Kathryn frowned in confusion this time. "Kathryn Janeway," she said, putting a hand to her chest to indicate she was talking about herself. "Janeway. My name is Janeway."  
  
The alien shook his head. "Machie lonosata," he repeated, this time adding a few other words that she doubted she'd ever be able to pronounce or annunciate correctly even if she learned the language.  
  
She pushed herself up more in an attempt to get more comfortable and immediately she felt dizzy. As the world around her gradually stopped spinning she moistened her dry lips and pinched the bridge of her nose.  
  
"We're not getting anywhere," she muttered, mostly to herself.  
  
Her luminescent captor took the bowl from her hand. With his free hand he pointed to her, then tapped just below his own eye, and then pointed to the ground. She assumed he meant he wanted her to watch him do something. She nodded and bent over a little to watch.  
  
The alien poured some of the liquid on the dirt covered floor effectively creating mud, something she'd already had enough of to last a lifetime. With rapt attention she watched though as he used a finger to draw in the mud. With understanding dawning she smiled with a spark of intrigue in her eyes.  
  
After a few seconds he looked up at her and pointed to the drawing. It was a simply drawing, nothing to detailed or intricate, but she could tell quite clearly what it was supposed to be. It was the away team's shuttle.  
  
She nodded and pointed to the drawing. "The shuttle. It crashed."  
  
He stared at her for a moment before pressing the bowl into her hands. She once again nodded her understanding and bent over a little more to pour more of the substance onto the dirt. She drew the word 'crashed', not that she expected him to understand it, and then thought for a moment what she could possibly draw that he might be able to relate to.  
  
These aliens were intelligent, she could tell that much just from their presence and the fact he appeared to understood what a shuttle was to begin with. Perhaps he may understand their reason for coming in the first place as well. With cold fingers she began writing out the various symbols for dilithium she'd encountered over the years. She wasn't even sure if he would really understand what she was trying do, but it was worth a try. When she was done she looked up to find her captor smiling with the spark of excitement mirrored in his own expression. It was the look of a scientist who was faced with something new to study and explore. There was a time when she'd worn such an expression often.  
  
He tapped the drawn out formulas. "Sachoz nibalok farmal."  
  
She assumed that meant dilithium. Or he was calling her insane. "Dilithium?"  
  
He reached for the leather hide like string around his neck that was just barely showing from under his dark gray clothing. As he pulled it out from under his clothes she saw a small piece of crystallized dilithium hanging from it. "Sachoz nibalok farmal," he repeated, holding the piece of dilithium out to show her.  
  
"Sachoz nibalok framal," she attempted to say and was almost certain she butchered the intricate language. Apparently her captor agreed if the huffing laughter like noise he made that was accompanied by an equally amused grin was any indication.  
  
However as quickly as the liquid concoction had worked it just as quickly seemed to wear off. The longer she sat up the more prominent the pain became once again. With the pain slowly coming back so did her fatigue and with that the cold became colder. Her visitor seemed to see her problem. He put a hand just below her throat, as he had last time, and gave her a gentle push. She complied, the dizziness back with a vengeance, and eased herself down into a laying position. With her eyes closed she heard the door open and assumed he was leaving, but a moment later she opened her eyes just in time to see him coming back with a thick blanket.  
  
"Thank you," she said as he spread it out over her. She chuckled lightly when he began actually tucking the bottom of the blanket under her feet as if to make sure they were warm enough.

Her fight to stay conscious was soon lost though and, as her eyes slid shut once more, she heard her captore softly say, "Jay'way."


	26. Chapter 26

As the search team emerged into the large clearing Nicoletti stepped up next to Chakotay and pointed to the trees in the distance. The clearing sloped and from this higher vantage point they could get a better view across the treetops. Sure enough, just as she'd reported the day before, there was a gap in the trees roughly two or three miles away, just barely visible from where they stood, that was surrounded by leaning trees that were all bent in the same direction. It looked very distinctly as if something had crashed into them. 

"See, it's right along the third trajectory Seven came up with," Nicoletti said with a satisfied smile. "We couldn't get any closer to investigate without missing check in, but right along that tree line," she added, nodding to the border of trees across the clearing. "Is where we found the piece of material stuck to a bush."

The small piece of material they'd brought back the day before had looked and felt just like something from a Starfleet uniform. After Seven analyzed it she verified that it was definitely Starfleet made. It was only a small piece of ripped clothing so Chakotay surmised that someone had simply snagged their uniform on it while walking by. They probably hadn't even noticed at the time.

If someone was walking around snagging their uniform than it meant there was someone alive to have their uniform snagged. Better yet, it meant they were well enough to be walking around. Most likely walking a good distance since there was no other trace of the away team in this area.

If it was the shuttle that had caused the gap in the trees then it meant they'd walked at least that two to three miles and then likely walked back afterwards. If they took that much effort to return then chances were they were staying at the crash site or close to it. _If_ that was even the crash site. It was a pretty big if, but so far it was the best 'if' they had.

"If we hurry we can make it there in an hour or so," he said to the group. The three teams had been combined in an effort to double their efforts now that they might have a clue to where the missing crewmembers were. It also meant he didn't have to tell anyone they couldn't come along. Even B'Elanna was with them now.  
  
The only members of the senior staff left on the ship were Seven, the Doctor since the distortions had been effecting his mobile emitter, and Neelix. Chakotay hoped they all returned to the ship safely or else the crew might be left with a certain talaxian at the helm and an ECH in command. 

 

* * *

 

The campsite was empty.

Chakotay wasn't sure if he should be relieved or even more concerned. It was obvious that the away team must have survived the initial crash. There were blankets laying spread out under what he assumed was supposed to be a shelter of sorts, but was really just a piece of bulkhead held up with thick vines. There was also a pile of empty ration packs and assorted supplies. A bunch of twigs, moss, and other debris were piled in what was obviously their fire at night.

The shuttle itself was, without out a doubt, gone for good. Most of the hull plating was missing completely or cracked. A large hole in the side of the shuttle could be partially seen, but most of it was buried under dirt from where the shuttle was sticking out of the ground. Through the broken frontal window he could see conduits hanging down and consoles that had exploded.

He took comfort from the fact that the away team had survived through that. Judging by the way the blankets were laid out he'd say most of them had made it out alive at least. At the same time, the fact they were no where to be found was cause for concern. It actually gave the recently used campsite an eerie feel to it.  
  
He was debating whether or not to wait and see if they would return from wherever it was they'd gone or to start combing the area for them. His contemplations were interrupted by Megan Delaney as she came from behind the shuttle where many of the search team members were trying to check inside.

"Commander....," she said, her face solemn and lined with both tension and disappointment. "You'll want to see this."

That didn't bode well.

With slight trepidation he followed her around to the back of the shuttle where the others were now gathered silently. He was almost afraid to go any further. His feet were braver than his head though. As he drew closer he could see Tuvok standing amongst the rumble of the shuttle's cargo hold and looking down at something. Something that Harry was knelt down next to.

Something under a blanket and with an unfortunately distinctive shape.

His heart started racing while his instincts told him it couldn't be Kathryn. The form under the blanket was too large to be Kathryn. It simply couldn't be her. It couldn't. He wasn't sure what he would do if it was.

With his heart still pounding in his ears Chakotay hopped up onto the landing, which was a couple feet off the ground thanks to the shuttle's odd angle, and stepped closer until he stood next to Tuvok. As he looked down at the uncovered face it took him a couple extra seconds to comprehend that it indeed wasn't Kathryn. At that realization he felt a margin of relief.

And immediately felt guilty for it.

Because while it wasn't Kathryn it was still a member of the crew. Yosa to be exact. He'd know the face anywhere, no matter how pale and lifeless it looked. Yosa was...had been....a good officer, both in a Starfleet crew and a maquis crew. He had always had a friend's back in a fight. That had been how he'd originally come to be on the _Val Jean_ to begin with. Now Chakotay almost hated himself for allowing Yosa to come aboard his own ship that first time so many years ago.

If he had know it'd end like this...

"He has been dead for several days," Tuvok stated, more quietly than he would normally speak. "But I do no believe he died in the shuttle crash."

Chakotay looked over at the Vulcan with a curious look. "How do you know?"

"There is a large gash along his side that is reminiscent of an animal's claw."

"An animal? I thought there were no lifesigns on this planet. Animal or otherwise?"

"We didn't think there was," Harry answered. He covered Yosa's face again and stood. "That was before we knew the sensors would be so skewed."

Chakotay nodded and glanced around the shuttle. It was only then he noticed B'Elanna. She was standing a little further into the shuttle, her arms crossed, as she stared down at Yosa's body with a far away look. He had a feeling she was remembering a time, what seemed another lifetime ago, when she and Yosa had fought side-by-side to hold off half a dozen Cardassians. Afterwards Yosa had said he'd only been trying to impress her. If the flash of guilt he saw in her eyes was any indication she was probably also feeling just as bad as he had earlier for being relieved that it wasn't Tom.

"If there are such animals in the forest...." Tuvok began, catching both his and B'Elanna's attention. "Then the away team most likely would not venture further outside the camp than necessary. Whatever reason has drawn them away from here was most likely one of great importance."

"You think they could be in trouble...."

"We can not be sure, but I believe it would be a safe assumption."

"In other words, let's get moving." Chakotay took one last glance at the faceless form and jumped down from the shuttle. They could come back for Yosa later after they found the others. "Everyone spread out a little and look for any fresh track marks. Stay within visual range of everyone else though. Don't wonder off. If you find something, alert Tuvok or myself," he instructed, already leading the way into the surrounding trees


	27. Chapter 27

**Tom POV:**

 

"Are we going to go in?" Tal asked, her voice low as they crouched down behind some bushes and peered over at the entrance to the cave.  
  
The bajoran had felt incredibly better earlier this morning when Jarvin and he were getting ready to begin the search again. The sap he had put on her arm had worked amazingly well. If they ever got back to the Alpha Quadrant he might sell it to the highest bidder. A few hours after being administered the puss had begun to ooze out. A few hours after that and the inflamed skin around the wound had begun to lose it's angry red appearance. By this morning she was feeling well enough to walk around without being too unsteady.  
  
Tom had insisted she be careful still, since the wound itself was open and still swollen, but he hadn't been able to stop her from joining in on the search for the Captain. With Tal leaving camp, Sofin had reluctantly tagged along as well. Jarvin was convinced he just didn't want to be alone with no one to use as a living shield.   
  
After starting at the break of dawn and searching for a several hours, a couple of which were spent going around in a circle, they'd run across this cave entrance. More noticeably they'd found a familiar looking boot just outside the cave entrance. Since all the rest of them had their shoes on it could only mean the Captain had lost her second boot.  
  
"Whatever dragged her away could be inside," Jarvin said in answer to Tal's question. "Or it could be a trap. Either way we should be careful."  
  
Tal furrowed her brows in thought. "Or she could have just lost her shoe."  
  
Tom and Jarvin shared a look. She did have a point. "Or she could have just lost her shoe," Tom conceded. "But I'd rather be careful anyways."  
  
Sofin scoffed, but wisely remained silent otherwise.  
  
"We're not going to find out by just staring at it," Celes pointed out. "How about I go first and...."  
  
Jarvin gave her a look that clearly questioned her sanity. "You realize you were at death's door the last couple days, right? And now you want to just walk up and try it all over again?" He looked in Tom's direction and shoved a thumb in Tal's direction. "Are we sure that tree sap didn't go to her head?"  
  
Tal rolled her eyes and slouched a bit. "At least it was an idea."  
  
Sofin sighed and stood, much to the annoyance of Jarvin who now seemed annoyed by anything the other crewman did. "Alright, fine. I'm the Security officer here. I'll go check it out."  
  
He and Jarvin stared up at the crewman as if he'd lost his mind and had turned into someone else entirely. "I wasn't expecting that particular volunteer," Tom muttered under his breath while Jarvin was still staring blankly at the Security crewman as if not quite believing what he'd heard. "I don't think any of us should just walk in there by ourselves though. Let's just take a minute and..."  
  
"Too late," Jarvin interrupted as Sofin ignored Tom and started walking towards the cave, his spear held firmly in his hands.  
  
Tom narrowed his eyes at the retreating form and stood as well. "Alright fine. We'll all just go."  
  
Tal and Jarvin stood as well and together they caught up with Sofin and headed into the cave.


	28. Chapter 28

**Tal Celes POV:**   
  


The cave was....well it was like any other cave Tal had ever been in. Dark and cold. Not _that_ dark though. The lining of the walls and ceiling were glowing almost. Streaks of soft silvery light lit their path enough for them to easily see each other, the dirt covered floor, and even the multi-legged insects crawling along in the cave crevices.  Oddly enough the deeper they went into the cave the less insects and cobwebs there were. She would have thought there'd be plenty of slimy creatures back in here, but there wasn't. The deeper they went the smoother the ground became and the colder it became as well. The light didn't diminish either as she thought it would.

"Shouldn't we have found something by now?" She heard Jarvin whisper.

He had a point. Other than the boot and a few drops of blood at the cave entrance they hadn't found anything. No animals, no traps, and no Captain Janeway.

"These cave systems could go on for miles," Tom answered. "Whatever dragged the Captain away might live anywhere within them."

"So how far are we going to go?" Sofin asked.

Tal already knew the answer to that one. "As far as we have to."

There was a sudden and narrow bend in the passageway that they would have to go through one at a time instead of side by side to fit. Jarvin glanced over at Sofin with a raised eyebrow. "Want to volunteer for this too?"

Sofin rolled his eyes and held his spear closer.

"I'll go first," Tom said, already starting into the tight bend.

Tal followed behind him, then Sofin, and Jarvin brought up the rear. The curve seemed to last forever and for a minute she thought they might just be going in a circle, but then the passageway widened again and they found themselves in a semicircle den like area with three different passageways leading out of it.

"Well that figures," Jarvin muttered.

Tal caught a flash of light out of the corner of her eye that seemed to come from the direction of the far left tunnel. She turned her head towards it, but didn't see anything except the same rock walls as the rest of the cave. "Let's go that way," she said, taking a few steps towards the passageway that had caught her attention.

Tom shrugged and went to follow her. "It's no better or worse than the other options for all we know." He glanced back at the other two before stepping into the passageway with her. "Are you coming?"

"We're all going to get eaten by something," Jarvin muttered again, but willingly followed.

Sofin scoffed as he trailed behind. "Now who's the pessimist?"

Tal wasn't sure if she was glad that Jarvin and Sofin were finally talking to each other now or not. She did know that she was beginning to get very tired though. And cold. If she had a phaser her hand would probably be frozen to it. She would actually really like to have a phaser right now all the same.

A few more feet and another, this time wider, curve and the passageway opened up into a room. This one only had one other exist. It wasn't the semi-open wooden door at the other exist that was so surprising though. All along one wall, built into the rock it seemed, was a machine of some sort. It was lit up with swirling lights and there was a steady beeping coming from it.

"Wow," she breathed out, staring at the complex looking computer system. "I...wasn't expecting that."

Jarvin too was staring at it. "Doesn't this mean that there are....."

"Probably people around somewhere," Tom finished. "Yeah. I think that's pretty much what it means."

"And wouldn't it make sense that these 'people' are who took the Captain?" Sofin added. "And so they probably aren't the friendliest bunch. And we're standing in their territory."

"I'm pretty sure the whole planet would be their territory."

"That doesn't make me feel any better, Jarvin."

Any further observations were cut off when the sound of boots against rock echoed down the passageway opposite them and through the open door.

"They're coming...," Sofin hissed. "We should get out of here."

"And go where?" Tom whispered. "This is their home. They know it better than we do. Besides, we haven't found the Captain yet." He looked around and then pointed to the open door. "Everyone get behind the door and against the wall. We'll surprise them."

The sound of the footsteps stopped, but there was a hushed talking instead. They all quietly, but quickly, pressed themselves back against the wall, Sofin with his spear at the ready and Tom with the phaser in hand. The sound of footsteps continued, slower now, and as it neared they got ready to leap into action.


	29. Chapter 29

"That's a pretty tight squeeze," Harry stated as they all examined the cave entrance.

Chakotay wasn't sure it was as much of a cave entrance as it was a hole in the side of the mountain. Naomi Wildman would have plenty of room to get through, but for a grown humanoid it would be more difficult. It could be done, but at least half of them would come away with some bruises. It was either this or keep looking for another cave entrance. They couldn't be sure where the next entrance would be though or how long it'd take to find one.

Thanks to having several talented trackers in the group they'd managed to find a trail of broken twigs and displaced mud. Following it hadn't been easy, but they'd managed to get a good distance covered at which point Harry informed them of the increasing energy readings he was picking up. After that they'd followed the energy readings and it had brought them here. It may not have been the most failsafe way of going about it, but after running out of broken twigs it'd been the best bet. If they were lucky it was the away team inside producing the readings as a way of getting _Voyager_ 's attention. He doubted it, but it wasn't impossible either.

"I'll go in first," Chakotay said. "Once I give you the go ahead then the rest of you follow. Understood?"

After a chorus of acknowledgments he ducked down, nearly to his knees, and began sliding himself through the opening. It took some work, but eventually he made it through with only bumping his head a couple of times. Once inside the cave fortunately opened up so he could stand up all the way.

He was slightly surprised by the amount of light, having expected to have to use his wrist light, and the passageway he found himself in seemed more or less flat and easily traversable. "Come on in," he called through the entrance.

It took a couple minutes for everyone to get through, but once they were they followed the energy readings down the passageway. The path twisted for awhile and then sloped downwards, but eventually they saw an opening in the cave wall up ahead. It was a strangely perfect rectangular opening, he thought.

As they drew closer he heard voices. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but there was definitely more than one. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end at the sound. One glance at the Vulcan beside him and he knew Tuvok had heard it too.

"Everyone quiet," he ordered in a whispered voice as he came to a stop. "Listen."

The sound of hushed talking could be heard from the other side of the opening, but the words weren't clear enough to understand through the partially opened doorway.

"Do you think it's the away team?" Harry whispered.

"It might be," he answered just as softly. "Or it might not be. Those energy readings and distortions have to be coming from someplace and if it's not naturally occurring than someone is creating it."

"Whoever is responsible may have taken the away team," Tuvok added. "Which would explain why they were missing from the camp site."

Chakotay didn't like the thought, but Tuvok could be right. "We're going to go in," he said to the group. "Carefully. Phasers at the ready."

They started moving again, trying to walk more silently than before, and once they were just about to the door Chakotay stopped and held up four fingers. With phaser in his other hand he began counting down.

 

 

* * *

 

When the footsteps stopped again just outside the door Tom was no longer so sure it 'd been such a brilliant idea to stay put. Maybe Sofin had been right. At the moment running seemed like a viable option. Every muscle in his body was tense. He felt a shiver go done Tal's back from where she was so close to his side, but he had a feeling that was due more to the coldness of the caves and her still fresh injury than anything else.

He heard breathing.

Like someone taking a deep breath.

His grip on the phaser tightened and he raised it a little more. In the next moment the door was being flung open the rest of the way and in stormed a swarm of people. Tom jumped forward, his phaser aimed, but then suddenly realized something....

Those were Starfleet uniforms.

He lowered his phaser just a fraction as he stared disbelievingly at almost a dozen uniform clad _Voyager_ personnel. Their phasers were drawn and they were looking around as if searching for a threat. Tuvok was the first to turn in their direction. As he did one of his eyebrows arched towards his hairline and his phaser lowered to his side. Tom blinked a few times as the rest of the swarm turned just as Tuvok had.

Beside him Tal started laughing and on his other side Sofin stood with spear still at the ready while staring blankly at the group. He was pretty sure Jarvin had lost the ability to make any sound at all. Of all the things he'd expected, all the options he'd gone over in his head seconds before they'd charged in, this wasn't one of them. He hadn't even considered a rescue team. Let alone a rescue brigade. How did they even get here? How'd they know to come? When had they arrived.....how'd they get through the distortion...why was Chakotay looking so confused....

"Tom!"

His heart fluttered…actually _fluttered_...at the wonderfully familiar voice. Sure enough B'Elanna pushed through the group and ran up to him, throwing her arms around his neck in the process. He instinctively lowered the phaser at her approach and could only hope whoever lived in this mountain didn't come along anytime soon because his arms were firmly wrapped around his wife, holding her close to his chest as he buried his face in her neck, making the phaser all together useless anyway.

He and B'Elanna had been in many dire situations before and had been separated for periods of time that left one or the other feeling worried and depressed, but at this very moment it felt as if he'd been gone forever. The intense relief that washed over him was so strong that he realized he'd really begun to believe they'd never make it off this planet and that he'd never see her again.

Her unique smell, her warmth, the sensation of her body against his, her breath against his neck, and the feeling of her arms holding him tightly....it was an all encompassing  perfection. With his eyes shut tightly against the rest of the universe he could easily believe that they were the only two people in existence.

"Where's the Captain?"

His comfort and feeling of safety came crashing down faster than the shuttle had and once again his apprehension washed back tenfold. Begrudgingly he let go of B'Elanna and turned to face Chakotay. As the others hugged their lost friends Chakotay looked around with dark, miserable looking, eyes. At the Commander's question everyone stopped smiling though and grew silent as they realized there was still one more person missing.

"That's what we were here to find out," Tom answered. He could feel B'Elanna's eyes on his face, no doubt taking in the days old burns, but she seemed satisfied enough with his being alive and didn't mentioned it. She did, however, tense along with him when she realized the Captain really wasn't anywhere to be found.

"You mean you don't know where Captain Janeway is?" Harry asked with a mix of concern and disbelief.

Tom had been so wrapped up in B'Elanna he hadn't even noticed his best friend standing so nearby. He started to explain as best he could with the limited time they had, but Tal beat him to it.

"Something took her." She glanced around the room before adding, "We're pretty sure it was a ‘someone’ actually."  
  


	30. Chapter 30

**Chakotay POV:**

To say the away team had looked surprised would be an understatement. It was obvious they weren't expecting a rescue team just now. Considering it'd been several days, nearly a week in fact, since the crash maybe they weren't expecting a rescue period. If the away team wasn't expecting them though than it didn't quite make sense that it was them who were producing the energy readings to get their attention. Which raised the question why they were here....and why they thought it necessary to nearly attack.....

And, as he quickly realized, where was Kathryn?

She wasn't with the other four, she wasn't anywhere in the room that he could see, and he knew for a fact she wasn't back at the campsite. The away team had looked tense, determined, and maybe even a little apprehensive.

Something wasn't right with the picture these pieces were putting together. As Billy Telfer nearly suffocated Tal in a bear hug while Tom and B'Elanna appeared as if they were blocking out the whole world at that very moment, he only grew more tense. Once again in less than ten minutes he found himself glancing over at Tuvok to have his suspicions confirmed.

There was someone missing.

Someone very important.

"Where's the Captain?"

At his question Tom visibly tensed and pulled away from B'Elanna. Sofin looked down at his feet with an unreadable look, Jarvin's eyes darkened in a way he hadn't seen since their days in the maquis, and Tal Celes was attempting to pry herself away from Telfer who seemed preoccupied with the young woman's arm.

"That's what we were here to find out," Tom answered.

Harry frowned deeply. "You mean you don't know where Captain Janeway is?"

Celes finally managed to yank her arm away and answered this time. "Something took her," she said, her eyes flickering to different corners of the room. "We're pretty sure it was a 'someone' now actually."

With that Chakotay's world fell down around his ankles yet again. "What do you mean 'took her'?" He asked in a deceivingly calm, but hard voice, as his grip tightened on the phaser at his side.

"Look, Chakotay, it's a long story. A very long story. One I doubt we have time for right now. We need to find the Captain first," Tom answered.  
   
"And you believe her to be in this location?" Tuvok asked.

"She has to be. It's where we followed the drag marks to and..."

Chakotay thought his heart might just stop right then and there. "Drag marks...."

"Long story remember."

Chakotay took a deep breath and nodded. "We'll split up and look. Tuvok you...."

"Commander, I believe this may be of importance," Tuvok interrupted, only he was no longer beside Chakotay.

He turned to locate the Vulcan and that was when he noticed the large computer system built into a wall of solid rock. "What is that..."

Tuvok continued to examine the machine and was soon joined by B'Elanna and Harry. "I believe," the Vulcan began. "That it may be the source of the distortions."

Harry already had his tricorder out. "He's right. This is the strongest readings we've gotten yet. The tricorder can't even begin to calculate it's strength."

"Whoever runs this knows that we're here," B'Elanna added as she looked at a small view screen.

Chakotay walked over to get a closer look at what she was seeing. The screen was black, but when B'Elanan ran her hand in front of it an image appeared. The first looked like the outside of a cave entrance. She ran her hand in front of it again and it was a running stream in the woods. The third time, to his growing apprehension, was a view of _Voyager_ from a distance. Once more and the away team's crashed shuttle appeared.

"This system is incredible," Harry said, completely oblivious to the images on the screen as he scanned what appeared to be a control panel. "I think it's woven throughout the entire mountain. And I think I know....," he trailed off and then carefully tapped a light blue square on the control panel.

There was a rumble that shook the cave itself and was followed by a hatch in the middle of the floor sliding open. Slowly a cylindrical tube, about a third of the size of _Voyager_ 's warp core, rose from the hidden compartment. The tube itself was clear and inside was a large, perfectly oval, hunk of dilithium. Little spikes of energy, like mini lightening bolts, randomly jettisoned from the dilithium to the red colored lining at the bottom of the cylindrical dome.

"It's the power source," B'Elanna stated as she carefully drew closer.

"It explains why Seven was able to pick up such strong dilithium readings from far away and nothing else. With the amount of energy this thing is producing there's probably nothing that could indefinitely hide readings."

"This is fascinating and all that....," Tom drawled. "But we still need to find the Captain."

"Mister Paris is correct," Tuvok agreed.

Chakotay mentally cursed for letting himself get so distracted.

"Wait," Harry said, as he worked at the control panel again. "I think I can stop some of these distortions enough so the tricorders will be able to pick up human lifesigns. Then all we have to do is find the one human lifesign that isn't with the rest of us."

Chakotay briefly wondered if that was against one of Starfleet's many directives or regulations or if it perhaps might have a negative effect on the planet itself, but as the thought of Kathryn still missing echoed through his mind he found himself not really caring. Add to it the fact that _Voyager_ still had to get off this planet in one piece and he was easily able to reason it as a good idea.

"There, it's done. I think."

B'Elanna checked her own tricorder and smirked lightly. "Nice going, Harry. It's working. There's a human lifesign about.....1.6 kilometers east of us."

"The other tunnels," Tal spoke up excitedly. "One of them must lead to the Captain."

"She's right," Tom said and began moving towards the other opening across the room. "There's two other passageways back through here."

"Let's get going than," Chakotay said as he followed after Tom.


	31. Chapter 31

It was a good thing the passageways were lit as they were, otherwise Chakotay was sure they'd have run into a wall by now. The ground was flat and, other than a few slopes occasionally, was easily traversable. The passageway itself however was another story. There were sudden turns and random walls that looked precisely carved, but randomly cut through the middle of the walkway so they would have to walk alongside it. He wasn't sure what their purpose was, but he assumed there was one considering how neatly and exact each seemed.

They had yet to find another opening though, let alone the Captain. Harry and B'Elanna couldn't be sure which of two remaining passageways would lead to the Captain, so they had split up. He could only hope the others were making more progress than they were.  
  
"Do you think the others are having anymore luck than we are?" Celes asked as if she'd read his mind.

"If they haven't already found her than I'm sure we will soon," Harry answered as he studied his tricorder.  
  
"Always the optimist, Har," Tom teased half-heartedly.  
  
Chakotay stopped dead in his tracks and held up a hand to stop the others. "Shh, did you hear that?"  
  
Joe Carey frowned from his spot in the rear. "Hear what, Commander?"  
  
Chakotay heard it again, but it took a moment for him to realize what it was. Voices. No, just one voice. He couldn't tell what it said though. "I don't think it's much further," he whispered and gestured for them to be quiet.  
  
As the passageway continued it slowly began to widen. A few more feet and a low beep, almost sounding like a warning for them to turn back, reached their ears. He didn't hear the voice again though. The farther they walked the louder the beeping became until the corridor curved up ahead. The sound of feet softly hitting the stone floor carried from around the bend and then disappeared. Chakotay gestured for the others to move forward slowly.  
  
"Why didn't we bring more people with phasers?" He heard Tal ask Tom softly from just behind him.  
  
As they turned the corner there were lights, brighter than the ones adorning the passageways, along the walls and Chakotay realized there were more small viewscreens and access panels which was likely where the beeping was originating. When the curve ended they were in a much larger corridor that was easily the width of the bridge with additional access panels along the walls.  
  
What caught Chakotay's attention was the guard standing directly opposite them in front of a wooden door. He wasn't aiming a weapon or even reaching for the one which hung from his leather belt. In fact he seemed oddly calm about the fact there were five strangers emerging into his lair.  
  
Chakotay didn't lower his phaser though. Even when the glowing - and he was definitely glowing - alien arched an eyebrow at him and smirked lightly he didn't move a muscle. Outwardly threatening or not, Chakotay wasn't about to play around with someone who might have possibly been involved with his Captain's capture. It was also quite obvious he knew who they were, was possibly even expecting them, so there was no point wasting anymore time.  
  
"Where's Captain Janeway?" He asked, or perhaps demanded, while taking a careful step closer.  
  
"He doesn't seem that dangerous," Tal whispered.  
  
"Neither does a bear until you start poking it," Carey whispered back in return.  
  
Chakotay ignored them both and took another couple steps closer to the guard. "Where is our captain?" He asked again, his eyes shooting sparks with each word.  
  
"Commander, there's a human lifesign coming from behind that door."  
  
The alien cocked his head with a look of confusion. If Chakotay didn't know better he'd say the dark eyed guard didn't understand a word they were saying. He took another step forward, phaser still raised, and as if tired of the whole thing the alien stepped aside and then passed a hand over a panel on the wall that caused the door to slowly open.  
  
Chakotay lowered his weapon a fraction and cast the guard a suspicious look, but he none the less moved the rest of the way towards the door. The others moved right along with him and after just a few steps they were all in the doorway, staring at the scene they were presented with.  
  
It was Kathryn Janeway alright. She was sitting on the floor and one of the first things Chakotay noticed were the four aliens sitting around her. The next thing he quickly realized was that she was smiling. There was a bruise spanning her cheek and jaw, a gash with dried blood on her forehead, and her shoulder looked swollen even through her uniform which itself looked torn and covered in dried mud.  
  
And to his surprise she seemed perfectly alright with all of it.  
  
At their entrance, while they all stood frozen in the doorway, she looked up and met his eyes. It'd been awhile since he'd seen the excited spark that was now shinning in those deep blue depths. "Captain?" With the one word he was silently asking if she was in fact herself and if she was alright.  
  
"It's alright, Chakotay. You can put down the phaser. You too Mr. Carey."  
  
Both officers did as she instructed, albeit a bit reluctantly, while Tal peaked her head over Joe's shoulder and grinned. "Captain! Are you okay?" She asked, a look of concern crossing her features as she noticed the bruising and dried blood.  
  
Chakotay watched, still slightly bewildered, as Kathryn's eyes widened at seeing the young bajoran. She seemed more surprised to see Tal than she did to see him and the others. "You're alright, Celes?"  
  
Tall nodded and once again grinned happily even through her obvious tiredness. Kathryn's relief was evident, at least to him since he was watching her so closely.  
  
"So I guess you didn't need a rescue as much as we thought, huh, Captain....," Tom said as he glanced from her to the four aliens watching them calmly and with curiosity in their intense gaze.  
  
Kathryn's lips twitched upwards in amusement. "It's appreciated none the less, Mr. Paris." She moved to stand up, wincing along the way, and as she did her 'friends' jumped up and tried to give her a hand. Once standing she kept a hand on one of the alien's shoulders for support. "Where are the others?"  
  
Chakotay continued to watch her intently and still with a bit of confusion. In doing so he noticed how she was putting most of her weight on one leg, the other almost seeming limp. "We separated to look for you," he answered. "We'll rendezvous with them back at the juncture. If you're ready to go that is...."  
  
One of the aliens, one with bronze eyes, approached him and began looking him over as if he were a specimen in a laboratory. His grip on the phaser tightened again, but he didn't make any other move. Kathryn had obviously begun some sort of rapport with these people. Judging by what little Tom had filled him in on while on the way, it was possible they may have even saved her life. For that he was appreciative.  
  
But then why did he still feel so apprehensive?  
  
If Kathryn picked up on his tension she didn't show it. "I'm more than ready," she replied dryly. "The Wakazi have decided to trade a portion of their dilithium with us."  
  
Wakazi. So that's what they were called, he thought to himself. "And what will we be giving them in return?  
  
"The shuttle."  
  
Beside him Tom and Carey exchanged a look that summarized his basic feelings on the matter. "The shuttle?" he asked, making sure he'd heard correctly. "The crashed shuttle? Captain, are you sure that's a good idea?" They'd ran into problems with other species wanting their technology before. They, especially the Captain, were usually adamant about not giving it away. 

"They don't want the shuttle for the technology, Chakotay. As you may have noticed they don't need any help with that aspect. They only want it for the parts."

"Scrap material?"

Kathryn nodded and began limping over, her alien friend still at her side helping to support her. "The chances of it ever being repaired again are too slim to bother getting it back to _Voyager_ anyway."

Chakotay looked at the alien who'd since moved on to studying Carey and tilted his head. "Thank you than."

The alien cocked his head, his attentive eyes sparkling with what Chakotay thought might be amusement, but didn't reply.

"They don't understand us," Kathryn explained. "Just as we can't understand them. Their language is too complex. From what I've seen it's composed of audible words, but mainly of guttural sounds that are too low for other species to even be cognizant of. Translators won't even pick it up because they aren't programmed for the wave lengths."

"If you can't understand them than how did you arrange a trade?" Tom asked.

"Visual aids." Janeway stepped aside and gestured to the floor. There were muddy drawings of words, both recognizable and alien, rough sketches of objects, and other markings all over the ground that seemed to center around where they'd been sitting.

"The distortions," Carey spoke up as they all moved out of the stone room. "They really are causing them?"

"From what I understand it's a defense system. They live within the caves, mostly under the mountains, but apparently they needed more security."

Tal frowned. "Security against what?"

"That part I still don't quite understand. They're afraid though. I think that's why they originally brought me here. They wanted to study us, to see what and who we are, and make sure we weren't a threat."

"It's impressive," Carey said. "They even have the whole planet under surveillance."

"Another part of their precautions." Kathryn smirked lightly and caught Chakotay's eye. "It's how I knew you were all coming. There was a viewscreen hidden back in that room they were keeping me in. When you entered their caves they showed me."

Chakotay nodded as they slowly made their way down the passageway and back towards the rendezvous point. "That explains why we didn't run into anyone. Not even in what I'm guessing is the control room. They already knew we were coming."

"I think they were afraid they might frighten you off."

Chakotay glanced at their entourage with a bit of weariness. The one silver eyed native was still assisting the Captain while two others followed behind the group and chatted between themselves. "I take it they're going to be escorting us out...."

Kathryn glanced at their two companions in the back. "It would seem so. How are _Voyager_ 's repairs going?" She asked after a moment of silence.

Chakotay was becoming more concerned about Kathryn's growing discomfort as they walked and made a mental note to lure her to sickbay with coffee as soon as they got back to the ship. "Just about complete. We found some polyferranide and B'Elanna's sealed the warp coils."

The trek back to the juncture didn't seem to take nearly as long as it had the first time. As they drew closer the sound of hushed talking could be heard and Chakotay assumed the others must have already returned.

 


	32. Chapter 32

The first thing Chakotay noticed upon stepping out of the cave was how much brighter it really was outside even though the sun was beginning to sink. He had to blink and shield his eyes as they adjusted to the light. The second thing he noticed was that their alien companions were no longer glowing. In fact their skin looked oddly pale, almost gray.

As he did a quick head count to make sure no one had lagged behind and gotten lost back in the cave he glanced over at Kathryn. She was speaking with the three planet's inhabitants who'd escorted them out. Perhaps 'speak' wasn't an apt description. They were talking, gesturing occasionally, and bending to draw things in the dirt once or twice.

As he moved over to join them he caught the Captain's eye and, for the second time in less than an hour, he did so without either of them looking away immediately. He smiled internally at the thought. Perhaps things between them weren't completely irreparable.

"Commander," Kathryn began once he was in hearing range. "Our friends here have already dropped the dilithium off at the away team's campsite. All we have to do is pick it up."

Chakotay didn't have the chance to reply.

A bracelet on one of the alien's wrist started emitting a high pitched beeping. When he looked at the alien himself he noticed his already wide eyes were widening even further. In the next second a ship flew by overhead, skimming low over the ground, and in the blink of an eye masked humanoids appeared, weapons already aimed in all directions.

* * *

Kathryn wasn't sure exactly what was going on. One moment she was speaking with Chakotay and the next they were being swarmed by humanoids wearing black masks which covered their faces. Weapon's fire erupted. Some from her own crew, some from the masked aliens, and some from the mouth of the cave where Wakazi had taken a defensive position.

"Jay'way."

Her silver eyed friend who'd appointed himself her assistant was trying to drag her away from the fray. "No, I need to stay with my crew." She tried to pry his hand off her arm as a bolt from an energy weapon shot over her head, nearly singeing her hair.

He was having none of it. His grip was deceivingly strong and with her strength already dwindling she couldn't get away. He continued to pull her back, to where she wasn't sure, and the resisting didn't seem to faze him. "Jay'way. Come."

"I can't...."

The fight was getting further and further away as he pulled her towards the trees. Another of her pale skinned 'captors' was suddenly at her other side, tugging her away as well. They didn't get more than a couple more steps when the one on her left fell face forward to the ground, a puff of smoke coming from the wound on his back. Another shot cracked through the air and her self-appointed assistant fell to the ground in a heap.

Without his support she nearly crumbled to the ground as well, her leg unwilling to hold her weight. As her head suddenly began to spin, her vision swimming in and out of focus, two more sets of hands were dragging her away again. She didn't notice who it was until her blurred vision began to clear. When it did, and she realized it was the masked attackers, she began struggling once more with all the strength she could possibly summon. With the both of them maneuvering they managed to turn her around so she was no longer facing the battle going on though and their grip on her arms turned into a bruising pressure.

"Captain!"

Kathryn glanced back over her shoulder to see Tal Celes running towards her, but before the young woman could get more than a few feet Telfer was holding her back. When she nearly broke free Gerron joined him and they managed to restrain her.

"Captain!" Tal looked utterly distressed and equally determined to get to her captain.

At Tal's shout Chakotay looked around and even from this distance she could see his eyes widen and a hard look appear on his face a mere second later. He shouted something at Tuvok that she couldn't make out and then started running after them.

Her captors gave her a ruff tug that sent a stab of pain through her chest as they forcibly dragged her along. She looked back over her shoulder again, but the trees now obscured her view. She wasn't sure where they were taking her, the fact her vision kept swimming wasn't helping.

She was trying to push through the fog in her mind, willing herself to stay coherent long enough to fight, when the alien on her right grunted as something hit him in the back. The black armor he wore seemed to absorb the brunt of the phaser fire though and he kept going. The one on her left made a hissing sound and froze in his tracks for a moment, but he quickly recovered and kept going as well.

"Kathryn, get down!"

Kathryn pulled away from the masked attackers the best she could and a moment later Chakotay tackled one of her captors. As the two rolled around on the ground her second captor aimed his weapon, but seemed to hesitate on shooting. Even with her growing fatigue she could recognize an opportunity when it was presented. With the masked captor distracted she ripped her arm away and then shoved her elbow into his abdomen, causing him to double over. With an elbow to the jaw he stumbled backwards and she grabbed the weapon from his hand.

Just as she aimed the weapon at the scuffle going on Chakotay seemed to get the upper hand. She wasn't going to take any chances though. Once the masked man pushed Chakotay off of him she had a clear shot and she took it without hesitation. Chakotay's attacker went limp and she turned back to the remaining one just as he grabbed her ankle.

It was too late though.

A bolt from another energy weapon shot through the trees and hit her square in the chest. She didn't fall right away. Instead she was frozen, unable to move a muscle, as a sharp stinging pain spread from her chest to her arms and then downwards. Through a muffled haze she heard her name being called. Slowly the pain ebbed away and she began to sink to the ground, but not before watching half a dozen masked attackers surround them and Chakotay being shot from behind.  
  


	33. Chapter 33

_"Captain!"_

_A cold chill ran down his back at the yelled title. Chakotay turned to look and saw Kathryn being forcibly dragged away. Their eyes met briefly. Not nearly long enough._   
  
_"Cover me," he yelled in Tuvok's direction._

_The Vulcan gave a single nod in understanding. He didn't wait any longer to hear if there was a verbal response. He passed Telfer and Gerron trying to hold back a wounded Celes who was trying to go after her captain even as weapon's fire was being shot from overhead as the ship fly by again._

_He ran._

_He ran as fast as he could, but it wasn't enough. The more he ran the further they went. The distance seemed to stretch on forever. She called his name, but he couldn't speak._

_Only run._

_Faster and faster without results._

_In the blink of an eye she was gone._

Chakotay shot up into a sitting position, his breathing coming out in fast puffs as his heart raced along at warp speed. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dim lighting, but once they did he wished he'd just stayed asleep.

He was no longer in a cave, that much he knew. There were no rocks here, only cold looking bulkheads. Through a small viewport across the room the could see stars passing by. It was definitely a ship. Not _Voyager_ though. If it was than it had to be a part of the ship he never knew existed.

From somewhere else in the room he heard a pain filled hiss. Even from that soft noise he could tell who it was. "Kathryn?" No ranks. There was no telling who their abductors were or what they wanted. He wasn't going to just hand over information about who the captain was.

He didn't receive a reply at first, but then her groggy voice cut through the silence again, "Chakotay?'

At her louder reply he was able to follow the sound of her voice. Sure enough as he moved closer to the nearest bulkhead he could see her pushing herself up through the dim lighting. He scooted over until he was at her side and put a hand on her upper arm as she maneuvered into a sitting position, using the bulkhead to lean against. He looked her over in the partial darkness, trying to see if she was badly injured. "Are you alright?"

She nodded, her eyes closed tightly as if willing herself not to throw up. "I've had better days, but I'll be fine. How about you?"

"Nothing that couldn't be fixed with a few minutes in sickbay."

Kathryn opened her eyes and he could see the sheer exhaustion residing there. His curiosity about what happened to her and the away team was barely tolerable. He wanted to know about Yosa and Celes and how she had been taken by the cave dwelling aliens in the first place. Right now didn't seem the best of times to get his questions answered though.

"Do you have any idea who it is that's invited us to this little party?" she asked, shifting a little and glancing around the otherwise empty room.

"I was hoping you knew."

She shook her head and stared thoughtfully at the viewport across from them. "I guess we now know who the Wakazi had been taking so many precautions against. How could they have used transporters through the distortions though? How could they have gotten there in the first place?"

Oh no.

It couldn't have been their fault. Could it?

Chakotay tensed and ran a hand over his eyes as he settled down next to her against the bulkhead. "I think I may know how."

Kathryn glanced over at him, silently telling him to go on.

"Harry shut down the distortions when we were looking for you."

Beside him he could feel Kathryn stiffen. "What?"

"The tricorders weren't working. With the system down we could pick up on your lifesigns. We didn't know at the time that it was meant as a security tactic," he explained, closing his eyes and letting his head fall back against the wall. "It was probably the perfect opportunity for...whoever's ship this is."

"That would be me," a voice said from the now open doorway. The speaker stepped further into the room, a single guard at his side, and the door slid shut again without a sound. With a flick of his wrist the lights suddenly came on, temporarily blinding himself and Kathryn. By the time his vision once again adjusted the masked leader was just a few feet away. "I would welcome you both to my ship, but if I'm quite honest I doubt you'll enjoy it much. Not that you'll be here long, so it doesn't really matter."

Kathryn used the bulkhead as support and pulled herself up into a standing position. Chakotay followed and stood his ground at her side.

"What do you want with us?" Kathryn demanded. If there was any question before who the commanding officer between them was, there was no more doubt now.

"I don't want anything," the man answered calmly. He grasped the edge of his mask and pulled it over his head, revealing for the first time who was underneath.

It was another species Chakotay didn't recognize. His nose was flat and his short hair looked more like strands of woven yarn than actual hair. If he were human his pupils might be dilated, but as it was Chakotay assumed that was just their natural state. 

Their captor started walking around the small room, hands behind his back, as he continued to speak. "Your capture was more a mistake than anything. The market is better for Wakazi than outsiders, but now that you're here we're not just going to let you go. We'll be able to get _something_ for you both I'm sure."

Chakotay didn't like the sound of those implications. "What kind of market is it you're talking about?"

"Servants of course. Servants with....," he paused for a moment as he looked them both over with a critical eye. "Various uses." He paused for another moment before continuing. "My home world isn't far away. Just outside on the border of the expanse, so we'll arrive in a few weeks time. I would have rather returned with some Wakazi, they fetch a high price amongst the scientist and scholars, but you'll have to do."

"We were the only ones you were able to capture than?" Kathryn asked.

That seemed to irritate their captor. "This time. Your Wakazi friends were able to activate their distortion field before anymore could be beamed aboard. I lost a few good Retrievers down at that planet."

"So sorry for your loss," Kathryn said dryly.

"You're going to become very annoying very quickly, aren't you?"

Kathryn flashed the man an overly polite smile even as murder shined in her eyes. "Most likely. You could just let us go and save yourself the trouble."

The man leaned in closer to her, so close Chakotay felt his fist clenching at his side, and smiled in the same overly polite manner. "I wouldn't dream of it." With that he straightened again and gave her another critical look over. "Enjoy your stay." He inclined his head in parting and practically marched out of the room, his guard following behind, and the door sliding shut with an audible lock.

Kathryn slid back down the bulkhead, her leg apparently no longer able to support her, and sat down again.

"Well," Chaktoay began as he sat back down with her. "At least I know where you are now."

Kathryn glanced over at him with an arched eyebrow before breaking into an amused smile. "Practicing to take the 'optimist of the year' award, Chakotay?"

"I learned from the best."

She scoffed and let her head rest against the bulkhead as she rubbed her apparently injured leg. His watched with no small amount of concern as her hand messaged the outstretched appendage. He had the overwhelming desire to brush her hand away and do it himself. He highly doubted she'd condone it. He doubted she'd let him survive it actually.

Instead of putting them both in an awkward position - her with his blood on her hands and him...well...dead- he asked one of the many questions he'd been pondering. "What's wrong with your leg?"

Kathryn didn't bother opening her eyes or pausing in her ministrations. "I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"I would think that term would be pretty self explanatory," she deadpanned.

"Kathryn...."

"I can't feel it," she answered, cutting him off. Her tone was meant to be nonchalant, but he could sense the undertones of agitation, perhaps even bitterness, as well. "I can't move it either."

Chakotay was a bit agitated himself by her calmness, wether it be for show or not. "And you didn't think that was cause for concern?"

Kathryn cracked a half-smile and chuckled as if oblivious to his current agitation. "I had other things to be concerned about at the time."

At the sound of her laugh he couldn't help but to smile softly as well. A second later and he joined her in laughing. "You realize this is ridiculous, right? You're in denial about an injury and we're laughing about it while imprisoned on an alien ship with people who intend to sell us as slaves."

"Welcome to the Delta Quadrant, Chakotay. In case you haven't noticed, nothing has exactly been 'normal' about it."

"I don't know....it's been kind of fun. I may even go as far as to say that I've enjoyed it. At least parts of it."

"Now look who's in denial."

Chakotay shook his head. "I mean it, Kathryn. I wouldn't change getting lost out here. Maybe change a few decisions I made, but not being stranded."

Kathryn looked over and studied him for a moment. "Which decisions?"

A memory from New Earth flashed through his mind's eye. A memory of growing closeness and subsequent retreat. For a brief moment in which his sanity levels bottomed out he nearly uttered the words 'New Earth' and brought back all the pain he'd felt when they'd pulled away from each other. Then came the memories of those who had died and was followed by every argument he and Kathryn had ever had, their latest one standing out the freshest and most vivid.

He swallowed thickly around the lump forming in his throat, but didn't break eye contact. "Personnel decisions," he finally answered. "And my...relations with those personnel."

With a look of dawning understanding that made his heart beat faster Kathryn grasped his arm and gave it a squeeze. "You couldn't have known," she said softly. "Seska had us all fooled."

Just as suddenly as his heart took flight it came crashing down. He nodded numbly and looked away. "You're right. I know."

She watched him intently a moment longer, but when he looked over she averted her gaze. Now unsure what to do, he cleared his throat and made a show of stretching his back. "How much longer do you think it'll be until _Voyager_ catches up with us?"

Kathryn continued to gaze at the stars outside. "If the repairs were as close to being finished as you said than they probably took off as soon as they could," she answered, tugging at a piece of leather string around her neck.

Chakotay hadn't noticed that before. In the cave it had probably been too dark and later...well, it was no wonder he hadn't realized her new apparel. "What's that?" he asked, gesturing towards the object.

Kathryn glanced down and then pulled the necklace out from under her uniform jacket, revealing the small piece of dilithium dangling from the leather string. "It was a parting gift," she explained with a small smile.

Chakotay reached over and carefully picked it up, rolling the piece of dilithium between his fingers. "It's beautiful."

Kathryn nodded as she looked down at the gift with clouded eyes. "It is. I think...." Anything she was going to say was cut off when the ship jolted suddenly. She looked up and Chakotay noticed her tensing visibly. "Look," she instructed.

Chakotay followed her stare and inhaled sharply. Outside the viewport was a mass of swirling colors that meshed together in an intricate, and hectic looking, pattern. In the middle of the phenomenon were two bright focal points of lights that looked like a pair of deadly serpent eyes.

"I think we've found Grefftus' space monster," Kathryn said, still staring at the deadly beauty. "And Seven's particle fountain."  
  


	34. Chapter 34

**Tuvok POV:**

 

There was a storm brewing in the distance. Gray clouds were beginning to accumulate over the mountains and occasionally a bolt of lightening could be seen. Tuvok studied the scene on the viewscreen and mentally calculated the approximate time they would have before the storm reached it's peek. He approximated roughly one hour and thirteen minutes before that happened. They would hopefully, as the saying went, be gone before then.

"Lieutenant Torres, has the dilithium been properly installed?"

" _We just finished installing the dilithium and realigned the matrix_ ," the Chief Engineer said over the commline. " _We're ready to go anytime_."

"Mr. Paris..."

"All set here, Tuvok."

It was unfortunate that Lieutenant Paris was unable to report to sickbay. He was, however, their best pilot and that quality would be needed as they maneuvered through the spatial phenomena infested space in their pursuit of the command team.

"The distortions are back up, but we should be able to get out easily enough. Especially with the fresh dilithium," Harry Kim reported.

Tuvok folded his hands behind his back. "Thank you, Mr. Kim. Mr. Paris, begin launch procedures. Once we are off the planet begin pursuit of the alien vessel." The helm officer didn't reply verbally, his focused attention on his console was enough of a response for him at the moment.

 

 

* * *

**Janeway POV:**

 

It was obvious whoever was flying the vessel was trying his or her best to navigate the dangerous space around the particle fountain and it seemed whoever they may be were well experienced in flying in such conditions, but Kathryn doubted anyone, no matter how good they might be, could escape what was inevitably going to happen.

All it takes is one mistake, one wrong move, no matter how small or normally insignificant to bring down a ship. Even a ship with shields as strong as this one appeared to have. Once caught in such an anomaly's grasp there was little that could be done.

The captain of this ship had seemed well versed enough to realize that, but as captain he would also utilize every option and most likely wouldn't give up until the very end. He seemed the type. So Kathryn wasn't surprised when the ship jolted, rocked, and strained under the pressure of trying to escape the fountain's pull. She should probably be more concerned about the fact that in a matter of moments they would be swallowed by the 'monster' and would most likely die. She wasn't though. Not because she knew something no one else did or because she had faith in the ship's pilot. She just...wasn't.

In fact she was oddly numb.

Perhaps it was the shock of resent events finally catching up with her. Maybe it was proof the quadrant had finally just desensitized her in regards to the prospect of death. Or maybe the fermented sap had done more than just temporarily numb her pain. She and Chakotay had moved closer to the viewport to look out, but even the closer look didn't seem to phase her. She still felt empty.

The ship shook, causing her to reach out and grab Chakotay's shoulder to keep from losing her balance. As the tremor continued her good leg finally gave out though. Before she could hit the deck she felt Chakotay's arm around her waist keeping her from falling.

Looking up, she met his eyes and for a moment she stopped breathing all together upon seeing the emotions battling for dominance in his eyes. The ship shook violently again, this time nearly knocking them both off their feet, and his grip around her waist tightened until they were practically pressed up against each other while trying to keep the other balanced.

"Kathryn," he breathed out, the swirling abyss that would probably soon be their grave growing closer and closer. "I wanted to tell you...."

The door of the room slid opened and the ship's captain once again stood in the archway. This time however he was using the doorframe as support to keep from being thrown to the ground. "That one." He pointed at Kathryn and three of his men stepped passed him into the room. "Bring her."

The universe had a cruel sense of humor.

As the ship was pulled in closer to the anomaly, already beginning to break apart, two of the guards ripped her away from Chakotay and dragged her out of the room. Just as the doors slid closed she looked back and tried to catch Chakotay's eye, but the door cut off her view.

 


	35. Chapter 35

Kathryn wasn't expecting to be dragged to an escape pod. Nor was she expecting the Captain's cool eyes to be practically drilling holes in her skull and gesturing with a weapon for her to get in. "Why?"

The alien Captain's jaw ticked in annoyance. "I'm trying to save your life here. The least you could do is be a little more cooperative."

"Save my life," she repeated suspiciously. "Why should I believe that's your real intention?"

"Because you insufferable...," he stopped and took a deep breath before starting over. "Because _I_ am going to be in there as well. Do you honestly think I would endanger my own life?"

"Why isn't Chakotay coming than?"

The Captain looked like he was barely restraining himself from calling her the most insulting names of his native culture. "Because this is the last escape pod and there's only room enough for five people. I trust you're at least capable of doing simple mathematics." He gestured to the three guards standing nearby. "I'm not about to leave one of my crew behind, so that means only taking one prisoner. You'll get us the highest price." 

"I'm not leaving any of _my_ crew behind either."

"Would you rather stay here and die? I didn't think so," he added without waiting for her answer. With a hand on her shoulder he gave her a shove towards the hatch. "Now get in there."

Kathryn spun around, her own eyes spitting fire to match his. "I'm not leaving him," she said, enunciating every word.

"What part of there's only enough room for one of you don't you understand?"

"Fine," she said calmly. "Then take him with you and leave me."

That seemed to knock the captain off his guard for a moment. "What? You'd rather stay here and die than to escape. You realize I'll only take him back to my planet and sell him off to the highest bidder, correct? So really I'm not sure you'd be doing him any favors."

"It'd be more of a chance than he'd have here," she pointed out. The ship jolted violently just at that moment as if to prove what she said.

The alien captain seemed to understand, at least on some level, but shook his head all the same. "We don't have time. We have to leave now if we have any chance of survival. Now I'm not going to ask again," he added, raising his weapon until it was just under her chin. "Get in there."

When she didn't move he nodded to one of the guards behind her and the next thing she knew a familiar stinging exploded in her back, traveling the length of her spine, and then she sank to the floor as her world went black. 

 


	36. Chapter 36

**Chakotay** **POV** :

 

Chakotay wasn't sure where he was at first. The last thing he remembered was being thrown to the ground as the alien ship shook, pieces of debris flying through the air as bulkheads exploded, and even the air itself feeling like it was being sucked out of his lungs. He must have lost consciousness at some point. He wasn't dead though, as he'd been expecting about the time a piece of bulkhead had trapped him to the ground, and he wasn't racked with pain either. Maybe it'd all been a dream. A horrible, stress inducing, nightmare. And maybe.....

Maybe he should actually open his eyes and stop procrastinating just because he was too terrified that it wouldn't have been just a dream. With a deep breath he summoned his courage and let his eyes slowly open. Maybe it really had been a dream.

And maybe he was _still_ dreaming.

It was the only explanation of why he was laying in sickbay, staring up at the ceiling, and not dead. The pain wasn't completely gone either, as he realized upon shifting a little on the biobed. It wasn't nearly as bad as it'd been before he'd lost consciousness, but it was there and acting as a reminder that what happened really had happened. But maybe this was still a dream. He hadn't _completely_ ruled that possibility out yet. It wouldn't be the first time he had such a vivid dream.

"Ah, Commander, you're awake.

It wasn't a dream. He was in sickbay. Only in real life would the Doctor stand over him with a self-satisfied smile while he himself was too sore to move. The Doctor wasn't that cruel in his nightmares, only in the real world.

He brought a hand up and rubbed his eyes as the Doctor pressed a hypo to his neck. Almost instantly the soreness began to ease. "What happened?"

"You nearly died, but other than that...."

"Doctor," he said with an irritated groan.

"You'll be fine, Commander. You just need a few days rest and you'll be crashing shuttles again in no time."

That still wasn't an answer. It took more effort than he'd been expecting, but eventually he pushed himself up on his elbow to get a better look at the EMH who was organizing his tray of instruments and avoiding eye contact. He was holding something back, that much was obvious.

"What happened, Doctor?" he asked again, this time making it sound more like the command it was meant to be.

"We rescued you. Obviously," the Doctor answered, but with one glance at the look on Chakotay's face he sighed and finally elaborated. " _Voyager_ followed the warp signature and found the alien vessel being pulled into the particle fountain. With you inside. Thanks to Lieutenant Torres the transporters were online and she was able to cut through the distortions and beam you out just before the ship broke apart."

"You keep saying 'you'...," Chakotay pointed out, a feeling of familiar dread beginning to weigh heavily on him again. "Where's the Captain?"

The Doctor looked about like how he felt. "She...we couldn't find her."

"What? What do you mean you 'couldn't find her'?"

"According to Mr. Kim, the only lifesign on the ship was yours." The Doctor paused for a moment as if debating how to word what he was about to say. "Either she wasn't there at all or....she was already dead when we arrived."

Chakotay shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. She wasn't dead. They didn't go through all this to rescue the away team just so they could lose her for good. The universe had a sick sense of humor, but it couldn't be that sadistic.

"When was the last time you saw her? Was she alright?"

He heard the Doctor asking, but it took a moment for the question to register. "The last I saw she was hurt, but she was alive. The ship captain took her...."  
  
The Captain took Kathryn. That's right...he was taking her somewhere. Wherever he was, Kathryn was probably there too.

Chakotay sat up straight, a new sense of determination taking over, and nodded as he tried to wrap his mind around what could have happened. "They took her and left. That was the last I saw of her."

"We believed that to be a possibility upon realizing the escape pods had been jettisoned," Tuvok said from his spot in the doorway.

Chakotay hadn't even noticed he'd arrived until that moment. "The escape pods?"

Tuvok walked in further until he was a few feet away from the biobed, leaving plenty of room for the Doctor to work. "Upon our arrival it became apparent the escape pods had been used. One of the pods had been pulled into the particle fountain before it could fully escape."

"The alien captain must have taken her with him," he said, already sliding off the biobed. "We'll need to track them down."

"We are already doing so."

"And they can continue to do so without your help," the Doctor stated while attempting to get him to climb back onto the biobed. He rolled his eyes upwards with a sigh when Chakotay grabbed his uniform and headed to the back to change. "At least stay until they actually find the escape pods! _Then_ you can go gallivanting around the ship."

Chakotay continued to ignore him. Once finished dressing he came back out to a frustrated looking Doctor and without a backwards glance he followed Tuvok to the bridge.

* * *

 

**Janeway POV:**

"Do you really expect us to last out here?" Kathryn asked, breaking the silence that she'd woken to and which had continued for at least an hour. "This pod can go what....two...three days max before it's systems begin to shut down? We're in the middle of the expanse, in an escape pod that can probably go no more than 1.5 warp, and there are dangerous anomalies all over the place. How long, exactly, do you think we're going to survive?"  
  
The alien captain, Pallock as she'd learned his name was, didn't seem fazed. "Remind me to have her mouth sealed shut before we auction her off," he said, much to the amusement of his three crewmembers.  
  
"You better hope..." she began, her voice lowering to a deadly level. "That you live long enough to see another auction."  
  
"Really?" Pallock rolled his eyes and propped his feet up on her knees. "Resorting to dramatics now? I was actually beginning to admire your determination. I guess I was expecting too much though from a soon-to-be servant."  
  
Kathryn's jaw ticked in annoyance and with one shove she knocked his feet out of her lap. Pallock arched an eyebrow at her, an amused smirk slowly appearing, before he gestured leisurely at her. "Put her to sleep."  
  
"Yes, Captain," came the prompt reply.  
  
Janeway narrowed her eyes at Pallock and kept eye contact right up until the energy beam struck her in the chest and she melted once again into unconsciousness.  


	37. Chapter 37

Chakotay tapped his fingers against his chair's armrest with a sudden surge of nervous energy. On the forward viewscreen was the magnified image of several escape pods. There was no telling them apart, each had the exact same markings and were the exact same size, but it seemed to him that many of the pods were in some sort of formation around a pod in the center of the mass exodus. Wether intentional or not he wasn't sure.

"Can they detect us form this range, Harry?"

"I can't be sure of the pods capabilities, Commander, but my guess is that we're still too far away. Even _Voyager_ can just barely see that they're there."

"There are lifesign readings being picked up," Tuvok added from his Security station. "However we can not yet distinguish human from non-human."

A loud warning alarm from the helm captured everyone's attention. Chaktoay's brows creased and he simply asked, "Tom?"

"It's another ship," the helms officer answered. "A big one."

Harry was already working away at his station by the time Chakotay looked in his direction. "It's at least the size of _Voyager_ if not bigger," Harry elaborated. "And it's heading towards the escape pods."

"It would seem it was not their intention to navigate their way back to their home planet, wherever that may be, by way of escape pod," Tuvok stated.

Chakotay agreed with the assessment. The larger ship now on the viewscreen didn't seem to be approaching the pods threateningly and the pods themselves seemed to be altering their courses just enough to intercept. "They must have called for help before launching the pods," he said, mostly to himself. "If we're going to get the Captain we'll need to do it now before that ship gets any closer. Tom...."

"Course already set in. Just waiting for the go ahead."

"Once we're in range begin scanning for human lifesigns and once you have a lock don't wait to beam her aboard. As soon as we have the Captain get us out of here, Tom." He waited just a moment longer to make sure everyone was ready before giving the order....

"Take us in."

 

* * *

 

The alien vessel was looming closer by the second. In a few seconds more it would be on top of them. If it weren't for the escape pods scattered all around, making it difficult not to hit one if a battle began, the other ship would no doubt have already begun firing. The closer they came the better shot they had though.

"Anything yet?" Chakotay asked, trying to sound calm when in fact he was pretty sure that if he got any stiffer he'd have muscle strain.

"We're trying, Commander," Harry answered as he and Seven focused on the console. "It's like looking for a needle in a hay stack."

Seven didn't seem to agree with that assessment, but other than an arched eyebrow she gave no further response.

"That ship is closing in on us," Tom pointed out as he tried his best to maneuver away from the other vessel while staying in range of the pods. "Hurry up, Harry!"

"Just give us one more...." he trailed off for a second before his fingers began flying across the console. "Found her! Locking on and....."

Chakotay waited with bated breath, as did the rest of the bridge crew, for Harry to continue and confirm that they had their captain back.

"Got her!" Harry finished, looking up with a grin. "She's in the transporter room and being beamed to sickbay now, Commander."

"Get us out of here, Tom."

"Already on it."

However, just as they started to jump to warp the alien ship fired, causing the ship to jolt as the shot hit _Voyager_ 's shields. "The sooner the better, Lieutenant," Chakotay gritted out.

"I'm working on it, Commander," Tom replied with his own annoyance lacing his voice.

Another hit to the shields, this one making the ship rock and nearly sending Chakotay to an untimely meeting with the deck.

"Shields down to 80%," Tuvok reported.

"Return fire." Chakotay watched as Tuvok fired as instructed, but the phaser fire absorbed right into the other ship's shields. He doubted the crew of that ship so much as felt a vibration in the bulkheads. "Divert power to the warp engines. Cut off life support if you have to, but get us out of here."

With another jarring jolt _Voyager_ jumped to warp. "Have we lost them?" Chakotay asked after a few seconds without anything exploding or being tossed around.

Harry, the majority of his attention still focused on his console, was the first to answer. "They're still on our tail, but it doesn't look like they can match our speed." Another jolt shut through the ship as they were fired on again. "They're turning around and heading back to the escape pods," Harry added, his whole body relaxing significantly. 

Chakotay released a long breath and rubbed a hand over his tired eyes. "Good work, everyone." He stood, wincing lightly when his sore ribs protested the movement. "Tom, once you're sure we have a clear path hand over the conn and report to sickbay so the Doctor can finish healing those burns."

He wasn't expecting the prompt, 'yes, sir', he received, but he quickly realized the helmsman probably wanted to check in on the Captain as much as he did after the away team's little escapade. "Tuvok, you have the bridge." He almost felt bad about leaving Tuvok in command yet again, but one of them should be left on the bridge and it wasn't going to be him right now. Not until he was sure Kathryn was alright.  

 

 


	38. Chapter 38

The messhall was oddly empty. Considering the time of day Kathryn had expected there to be more than just the few cremembers scattered about. It was the first time in awhile, what felt like months in fact, that she'd made a point to have lunch on time just so she could drop by the messhall and check on the crew.

It was truly amazing what a life threatening situation could do to bring a crew together. From what she could tell there was no longer so much as a trace of awkwardness between the former maquis and Starfleet. It was as if the Teero incident had never happened at all. She couldn't be more pleased about that.

There had been, of course, a sense of sadness the first couple of days once the news of Crewman Yosa's death spread. She was both glad that she'd been confined to sickbay those days and disappointed in herself for not being able to be there for them when they found out. She had trusted Chakotay to console those who needed it and he'd done well, but the disappointment was still there.

As for the loss of Yosa....

She tried not to think about it. Thinking about it lead to dwelling on it and dwelling lead to sleepless nights which lead to lessened efficiency. So she pushed all thoughts of mistakes, the mounting number of dead crewmembers, and 'what if's to the back of her mind with all the rest of the things she couldn't allow herself to dwell on.

If Starfleet made her have counseling sessions upon their return, whenever that would be, the counselor would have one hell of a time, as Chakotay had once said years ago. The thought of Chakotay brought up a whole new array of emotions. Especially as she remembered the conversation they'd had only the night before....

_She could feel his eyes on the back of her head as she replicated two cups of coffee. She ignored it. By the time she turned around he was already seated in his usual armchair across from her sofa. "It's nice to be back in my own quarters," she said, mostly to fill the silence, as she handed him his cup._

_"I know what you mean. It's nice to actually be able to sleep too."_

_She stopped, coffee frozen mid sip, and looked at him with a mix of concern and curiosity. "You haven't been sleeping?"_

_Chakotay tapped his thumb against the side of the coffee mug and looked down into it's dark brown depths. "We were busy. There wasn't much time for sleep."_

_It was a cop-out and they both knew it. The fact he used 'we' instead of referring to himself said it all. She only watched him a moment longer before letting it go and taking a sip of her coffee though. The warm liquid was soothing as it slid down her throat, almost as if washing away all her tension. She leaned back against the sofa and crossed her legs as she took another sip._

_Silence filled her quarters as they both quietly enjoyed their coffee. At least she was enjoying it. She wasn't so sure about her First Officer. He still seemed a bit tense and was more interested in staring at his coffee than drinking it._

_"I was worried about you."_

_Kathryn looked up at the sudden admission. He was still staring into his coffee cup, but she supposed she should be glad he was at least talking. "At which point? When the away team and I were stranded on the planet or when you and I were abducted by slavers?" She asked with a light smirk in an effort to diffuse the seriousness currently making the room feel suffocatingly small._

_Chakotay cracked a small smile that just barely reached his eyes. "Both."_

_"For what it's worth," she began, her smirk melting into a smile to match his. "I was worried once or twice as well."_

_"The great irrepressible Captain Janeway worried? Is that possible?"_

_He was teasing, she knew, but she was sure there was a touch of bitterness mixed in there as well. "It happens occasionally," she replied. "You know...this is the most we've talked to each other in awhile."_

_Chakotay looked back down at his coffee. "I suppose that's partially my fault."_

_"I didn't say that."_

_"You don't need to."_

_Silence descended again, as had been the pattern all night, until Chakotay finally looked up again with an almost pleading look in his eyes. "You know I'm sorry, right?"_

_Kathryn's automatic response was to assure him that he didn't need to be, but by now she was well aware of the fact that he wouldn't listen anyway. "For what?" she asked instead._

_"Everything. For the mutiny," he shook his head to ward of the rebuttal he obviously knew was coming and quickly continued. "Even if it wasn't necessarily anyone's fault. For my part in our avoiding each other. For not telling you..." he trailed off, taking on an unreadable expression, as he stared at her as if far away._

_"For not telling me what?" she pressed, her heart starting to pick up speed. For a moment his expression broke and she could see everything written clearly in his eyes. Every ounce of desperation, every hint of remorse and guilt, and a caring so deep that she wasn't sure she could fathom it. It all added up to one monumental picture that she shouldn't....couldn't....put a name to._

_"For not telling you...," he trailed off again and seemed to decide against whatever it was he was going to say. "What you're friendship means to me. That I'm sorry I jeopardized something so important and so precious. I don't want to lose you," he added, his voice almost turning into a whisper._

_"I don't want to lose you either," she assured him. "Your friendship or your companionship."_

_Chakotay smiled softly, but it was almost a sad smile more than a happy one. As if realizing he was still staring at her he quickly looked away and when he looked back the clouded look in his eyes was gone. "You know, as your friend, you can talk to me if you need to. You probably should talk about what happened..."_

_He was alluding to Yosa, the planet, maybe even all of the Delta Quadrant in general. "I know that, Chakotay. Maybe another time though."_

_"How much longer? I may only be your meager First Officer and not worthy to hear your deepest darkest secrets," he began, flashing her a teasing smile that actually looked genuine this time. "But I'm willing to put a pillow over my head while you rant if you need to. You're going to have to let it all out eventually, Kathryn."_

_"What's that old saying....something about a pot and kettle...." She arched an amused eyebrow at him to which he simply chuckled. "Besides, what happened to 'we have plenty of time'?" The smile on his face faltered slightly and the gaze she found herself staring into almost made her breath catch in her throat._

_"I guess I'm just impatient."_

_A moment of silence fell between them before she rolled her eyes with a smirk that she was confident hid here deeper tension. "I'll try not to make it much longer than. For your sake."_

The clearing of a throat brought her back to the present and she quickly looked up to find Sofin standing beside her table looking more than a little uncomfortable. "Mr. Sofin, it's good to see you. Have a seat." The crewman slid into the empty chair across from her and briefly glanced around the messhall. He looked like there was something he wanted to say, but wasn't sure how. With a small smile she sipped her coffee. "Was there something you wanted to talk about?"

"I protested looking for you," he finally blurted out. "When the Wakazi took you to their caves and we didn't know what had happened to you. I said it wasn't worth the risk."

Kathryn nodded silently. She had a feeling it was something like that. She'd caught Jarvin shooting him a glare when the members of the away team had visited her in sickbay and she'd thanked them for their efforts in locating her. "Good," she replied simply and took another sip of her coffee before it could get cold.

"Good?" Sofin was quite blatantly confused. And perhaps concerned for her mental stability. "Captain, maybe you didn't hear me correctly..."

"I heard you correctly. My response is still the same. Someone needed to be a voice of reason, after all." At his still confused expression she gave him a half-smile. "I'm convinced at this point that Mr. Paris, and probably Celes as well, would risk anything no matter how inconceivable it may be if they thought it would do any good. Mr. Jarvin, as I've noticed, is protective of those in need as well as anyone he views as being on his 'team' to the point of a willingness to break any rule in any book to do it."

"And me?"

"You're the realistic one," she answered, noting that he seemed startled a little at that. "Sometimes it takes someone with more realistic views to make others think about what they're doing."

"It didn't work on the planet. We went after you anyway," he pointed out. "Not that I'm sorry about that, I just..."

"I know what you meant. I also said 'sometimes'. The point is the four of you worked well as a dynamic. Maybe I'll send you all on away missions together more often," she added with an amused smirk.

"No, that's alright. I think I can live with never going on an away mission again," Sofin replied dryly. He paused for a moment, looking down at the table top, before continuing. "For the record, Captain, when the mission first started I would have gone looking for you, or any of the team, without hesitation. Then Yosa...," he trailed off with a far away look before shaking himself back into the present. "I guess I panicked. I reverted back to the _Equinox_ and all I could think about was survival. Then Tal Celes volunteered to go into the cave. She was wounded and had been close to death just a few hours before, but she wasn't afraid to take a risk. Something about that...it jump started my principles again I suppose. I felt smaller than a microbe for how I'd reacted. I _am_ sorry, Captain."

"Don't be sorry, Sofin. I can tell you from experience that being sorry won't change anything. The only thing you can do is move on and try to do better next time." She smiled lightly, albeit with hidden demons of her own lurking under the surface. "That's something I've recently learned from experience as well."

Sofin returned her smile weakly and nodded. "I understand, Captain."

"Hey, Sofin!" a voice called from behind her. A moment later Jarvin was at their table. Upon seeing the Captain he grinned. "Captain, I didn't think you'd be back on duty already."

"I'm not," she answered, holding up her coffee that was already loke warm and getting colder by the minute. "Just getting out of my quarters for lunch. Don't tell the Doctor I escaped though."

Jarvin chuckled. "Wouldn't dream of it, ma'am."

"Was there something you wanted with Mr. Sofin here?"

"Oh, yeah." Jarvin turned his attention to the crewman sitting at the table. "We wanted to know if you were up to a game of hoverball." He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder to Dalby, Jenny Delaney, Baytart, and Jenkins who were waiting by the messhall door. "Nicoletti canceled so we're down a person."

Sofin looked him over a minute before nodding. "Might as well," he answered, standing in the process. "If the Captain will excuse me..."

"You're excused, crewman. Both of you go have fun."

Sofin inclined his head respectfully in parting and followed Jarvin and the others out of the messhall. Kathryn watched them go and then leaned back in her seat, taking a sip of her coffee, and looked out the viewport at the stars passing by. A few thousand more light years and they'd be home. A few thousand more and she'd recognize the stars outside. 


	39. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the final chapter! Thank you to everyone who's been reading. And special thanks to the fantastic and wonderful BonesBird who convinced me to do NaNo in the first place.

Kathryn felt better than she had in awhile. Perhaps it was the four days of rest, or the fact she and Chakotay were back to themselves more or less, or maybe it was the fact she was finally sleeping without being awoken in the middle of the night by various nightmares. Whatever it was, she didn't plan on over thinking it. Such days should be enjoyed because they simply didn't happen as often anymore as they used to.

It was with a genuine smile on her face that she stepped off the turbolift onto the bridge. The moment her boot touched the carpeted deck Tuvok gave his usual, "Captain on the bridge", as he had a habit of doing when she'd been taken off duty for one injury or another.

With a well practiced flow the bridge crew snapped to attention. With a half-smile she took a moment to look around at their welcoming faces. It was an inspiring sight and their trusting expressions sent a wave of warmth through her that was more potent than the fermented tree sap of the Wakazi. With those expressions staring back at her the next few thousand lightyears didn't seem so far away.

"As you were," she ordered, moving down to the center of the bridge where Chakotay was already waiting with his usual dimpled smile and soft brown eyes. As their eyes met she realized just how long it'd been since they were anywhere close to being at east around each other and just how much she'd missed his smile greeting her in the mornings.

_'Three years ago I didn't even know your name. Today I can't image a day without you_.'

Her own words from the past echoed in her mind as Chakotay's eyes twinkled with a profound caring that she admittedly overlooked occasionally. Things between them might not be completely resolved, there might still be hurt feelings and tension simmering under the surface still, but it was a start in the right direction. A start that she felt might just set a new course for whatever lay ahead.

"Mr. Tuvok," she began, finally tearing her eyes away from her First Officer and slipping into her chair. "Status report?"

"The ship is functioning at 100%, Captain. We should be leaving the expanse within the next two weeks."

"Our path is currently clear as well, Captain," Seven added from the console behind the command chairs.

Kathryn gave a nod in acknowledgment. "Good work everyone. Tom...." Tom turned in his chair, his face and neck now completely free from burns, and a crooked smile on his face. "You know what to do."

The helms officer flashed her a grin with a glint in his eyes. "Yes, ma'am. Sometimes I just like to hear you say it though."

Kathryn gave him an amused look and tapped a finger on her armrest before deciding to humor him. "Set a course, Mr. Paris. Take us home."

Tom's grin widened. "Aye, Captain."

She watched as he turned back around to do as instructed and cast a look at her side to Chakotay. They shared an amused look before she turned her attention back to the viewscreen to watch the stars. The Mawr Anga was almost behind them, another obstacle out of the way, and with that victory the future didn't seem so dire. 

* * *

  
Elsewhere, on a planet 15.3 lightyears away and 300 miles under the surface, a silver eyed Wakazi reached up and felt for the necklace that was no longer there. And while he watched a screen that showed an alien ship's progress he sent up a few words of encouragement to the stars which guided the Jay'way home.


End file.
